New Phantom
by Storm VII
Summary: The future has once again been altered... The events of Phantom Planet have been destroyed as a result of Dan Phantom's escape... With more and more spirits slipping out of the Ghost Zone it's up to Amity Park's Half-Ghost Hero to catch them all. New Stories, New Enemies, New Powers, NEW PHANTOM. (Slight Danny x Harem)
1. Dawn of A New Era

_**New Phantom**_

 _Dawn of a New Era_

A flight between a ghost and a human, a geek and a goth, two best friends who'd turned into something more. Clockwork allowed his young self a smile at the time portal's image of young Danny 'Phantom' Fenton and Sam Mason flying off into the moonlight . Plasmius had yet to reveal himself again, the meteor that was set to wipe out the earth had passed harmlessly through, and the ghosts had returned to the ghost zone... for the time being.

"So this is it?" a voice from behind him asked. It was a ghost whose head was mostly made up of a single large eye. It was one of the observes, one of those who would watch the events of history unfold relentlessly, but only intervene on the rarest of occasions. "This story has ended?"

"So it would seem," Clockwork said, transforming to his adult state as he spoke. 'It seems that the earth has been saved from yet another crisis, but this may cause dramatic changes within humanity itself." He then allowed himself a smug smile at the two observes. "Do you still plan to watch?"

"In due time, but what we are most concerned with at present is the meteor," the second observe said.

"Indeed," Clockwork told them as the vision changed, not only in location but in time as well. The image now showed that titanic green mass of anti-ghost rock as it was long ago, simply floating through space as a part of Saturn's ring. "A mass of such a material existing in the human realm… this leaves more questions. How did it get there? Why? Not even I know…"

"Not even you know?" the first observer questioned. "Yet you claim to have knowledge of all things, no matter the time."

"Even my vision isn't absolute, there are some things that can exist past my view, unavailable for whatever reason. Knowledge forbidden, even to me…" As Clockwork shifted to that of his older self, the portal began to play Danny's battle with Plasmius, the explosion of the space station, and then the Meteor hurling through space. "Ironic though that such a deadly and mysterious object was what is responsible for the next great moment for humanity. It almost seems that they might have a life of ease."

" _ **Not if I have anything to say about it,**_ " came a sudden voice. Clockwork quickly glanced to the source of the voice, a Fenton Thermos, but not just any thermos, the one containing one of their largest threats. Dents appeared on the device pushing outwards, as whatever was inside was fighting to escape, a deafening scream was then emitted, causing the device to shatter, revealing a figure who was tall and handsome, but whose eyes shone with unparalleled evil and malice.

"You…" the observers addressed with scowls.

" _ **Me**_ ," the Future Danny Phantom, said with a dark smile before shooting out two Spectral beams from his arms, quickly detaining the two observers before sending out another set of beams from his eyes at Clockwork. Clockwork quickly dodged out of the way of the attack before the future Danny leapt forward towards the hanging area of the time medallions, managing to obtain one.

" _ **This ending seems a bit sappy for my taste**_ ," he said before flying out of the portal which was still set to the flying meteor, Clockwork following close behind. Using their ghost abilities they created aura's around themselves, able to withstand the dangers of space. " _ **Perhaps I can still live on if I send my younger self into the pits of despair once more. Killing Tucker and Sam might do the trick, maybe I can have him watch for good measure.**_ "

"Did you think I'd let you?" Clockwork said, altering a portion of time to millennia past when a comet flew through it. Dan may have dodged the attack, but his medallion was hit and began to crack. "It's over, without that medallion you can't survive outside of my realm. Either you return now, or you fade away, unable to reach earth in the vastness of space."

His opponent gave a feral growl before smugly smiling and blasted Clockwork, leaving him unable to move. " _ **Or, I could still alter history.**_ " He took off heading for the meteor.

"What are you doing!? Stop!" Clockwork shouted as the future villain used his Ghostly Wail against the meteor. "It's pointless, that entire meteor is made out of an antighost material."

" _ **THIS WILL NOT END HERE!**_ " Dan Phantom shouted as he multiplied himself into eight of himself, all of which began their ghostly wail on the meteor, while attacking with rays and every other attack at his disposal. Against all odds the meteor began to crack as the eight versions of him got closer to his target until a blinding flash of light erupted. When the light faded, they were gone, both the meteor and the one who destroyed it.

Clockwork said nothing as he reentered his portal, returning to his own realm where the observers were waiting.

"You fool! You've allowed him to escape and to change history! There is no telling what effects this may have!"

"I know," Clockwork said as he turned into his adult form. "But there was little that we could do. Breaking from the Thermos by pure force and destroying an antighost object is unheard of."

"You could have let him fade upon retrieving him! You could have ended him before this!"

"Well I didn't and now the world has changed," Clockwork said to them. "What do you intend to do?"

"For now we will consult with the rest of the council. I doubt that they will be pleased with you in light of the events. You tread on thin ice Clockwork, thin ice." With that, the two observers faded out of existence.

"Can I come out now?" came a voice from the shadows. Out of the shadow's emerged the last remnant of the bad future, Box Ghost's and Lunch Lady's daughter, Lunch Box Ghost.

Before the future had been changed and the bad future had faded into oblivion, Clockwork had approached the young girl with an offer, join him as a traveling companion and be spared from the vanishing world. Since then he'd managed to feel a little less lonely at least and her cheerful if comical behavior often put him at ease. He'd made a time bracelet so that she could survive outside of his realm without fading like the world she'd come from.

"Indeed you may," Clockwork told her. "Well done in hiding from the observers, but apparently their gaze isn't quite as… observant as they'd thought."

"I know that, but what was the deal with the other Danny? You barely tried to stop him! It looked like you were letting him destroy the meteor."

"I was."

"Well that's a lousy excuse," Lunch B. said, putting her hands on her hips.

"It's not an excuse, it was a reason," Clockwork said, looking at the portal observing the space where the meteor had been. "That future would have lead to ruin, even beyond that of the world you came from, now they have a chance."

"Wait… what caused it? A future that's worse than mine I mean."

"I do not know, as I have said, there are events that exist outside of my view, this is one of them. Ironic as it may have been, that villain may have just saved that entire world."

"At least he's gone," L.B. said with a sigh. "Hey, can we go out for ice cream?"

"The entire world has changed, a completely new timeline with infinite impossibilities is here, historical moments are approaching, and all you can think of is ice cream?" Clockwork questioned as he transformed into an old man.

"Yep!"

"...Very well, I suppose ice cream does sound good," Clockwork said as he began changing the portal to an unsuspecting ice cream shop in Green Bay. ' _I don't have heart to tell her that against all odds, that version of Danny Phantom is still alive, somewhere on the verge edge of time. There's already much to worry about, much to ponder, and Danny… Things will only prove to be more challenging for him from here._ '

 _ **Master's Manor**_

Vlad Plasmius stretched as he exited his rocket after his long flight back to the Earth. He allowed himself a smug grin, knowing that his latest plot was already put into action. If he played his cards right, then not only would have the undisputed ruler of the entire earth but Maddie Fenton (dear, dear Maddie) would be his wife instead of that insufferable oaf Jack's.

"Computer, give me a status on the meteor," he said as he transformed back into his human counterpart form of Vlad Masters, Mayor of Amity Park and self-made (he publicly insisted) Billionaire.

"Sure thing honey," the holographic A.I. based off of Maddie Fenton told him as the screen came up revealing the only the vastness of space as portrayed by satalite.

"Wait, where is it? It should be showing up now..." Vlad said as it narrowed it eyes. "Configure tracking formula zero-zero-seven on the satellite and show me the current location."

"That is the current location Vladdy," A.I. Maddie told him. "We're not detecting any part of your big meteor on visual or scanners."

"That's impossible! I perfected those particle scanners long ago! We should be able to find that hunk of space rock if Daniel was phasing it on the other side of Pluto!"

"Well sorry honey, nothing rocking except you here!" the program said before disappearing.

"Honestly, what happened?" Vlad grumbled as he stared at the screen. "It's not like I could have lost it! You can't make something like that disappear, even with ghost powers!" He shook his head. "Well enough about that. Now... how do I proceed?"

Vlad collected his thoughts on which part of his previous plan he could salvage. The only part of his plan that hadn't been impacted had been his plot to willingly convince young Daniel Fenton to surrender his ghost powers, but that may not his wisest investment. Knowing Amity Park's ghost problem, he needed Danny to stop said ghosts so he'd have the time he'd need to appear to run the city. That, and the possibility of making him his apprentice was still far too enticing.

Taking his cell phone out of his pocket he quickly dialed his recently hired ghost hunters who had yet to make their first appearance. "Yes it's me… No it's not time, and it never will be. Your funding and equipment will be removed and you'll be free to go back to your lives of adequacy… You really think I can't fire you? I just did." Vlad closed his phone a gave a forlorn sigh. "What was I thinking allowing them to call themselves _Master's Blasters_? No one would take that name seriously or even stand behind it… well, maybe Jack Fenton, but he's not exactly the prime example of choosing good names. What sane person names their band _The Skunks_? It was a review nightmare just waiting to happen!"

 _ **Fenton Household The Next Day**_

Danny Fenton yawned as he awoke in his room, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. The previous day's struggle and chase against Vlad Plasmius had left him drained, but at least he could wake up knowing it was a successful day's work.

"Danny!" he heard his sister, Jazz, call from downstairs. "C'mon get down here! Sam and Tucker are already waiting for you!"

' _Already? Can't believe they're this early,'_ Danny said with another yawn before he glanced at the clock. ' _Shoot, they're not early I'm late!_ ' "Uh, be down in a sec Jazz!" Danny called before taking off. ' _I know I set my alarm last night! Why didn't it go off!?'_

Knowing he had to hurry, Danny elected to cheat his morning routine; phasing through the wall to get to the shower, phasing into his clothes, and even phasing through the floor so he'd save time. That last one was a little riskier, but knowing his parents and their inability to notice he was a half-ghost for a full year, he had nothing to worry about when he stepped out of the downstairs closet.

"Have a great first day back at school honey!" his mom said to him from where she tinkered with inventions as Danny grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl for a fast breakfast before sprinting outside where his sister and Sam were waiting. As usual his father, Jack Fenton, was downstairs in the lab, working on whatever ghost related project he'd probably just dreamed up last night.

"Hey guys," he said running up beside his sister and two friends.

"Huh, forty-three seconds," Jazz said while looking at her watch. "You actually managed to shave two seconds off of your previous record, Mr. Never-Sets-Their-Alarm-Clock."

"I did too set my alarm clock!" Danny shouted as the group of four started making their way to school. "The thing just never stays set."

"Right, blame the machine," Tucker said with a roll of his eyes. "Well maybe I can take a look at it later, assuming neither of use are grounded for the rest of our lives."

"Grounded?" Danny asked, looking confused. "What the heck did we do?"

"The C.A.T. results, they just got posted today," Sam told him. Noticing Danny's nervous expression she became concerned. "What's wrong, you don't think you bombed it do you?"

"No, I managed to actually study for the full week of detention I had with Lancer, but I'm still a little concerned that whoever graded it will think that I cheated on it, but if they don't think I cheated that means I probably scored pretty low," Danny said as he quickly peeled and ate his banana while walking.

"You don't know that," Jazz told him, trying to reassure her younger brother. "I mean you had Tucker and Sam cover for you while you were studying right? A full week of not hunting ghosts should've helped."

"Let's hope so, I don't want to know how bad mom and dad would flip with this if I did bad," Danny said as the two made their way up the stairs to the Casper high school entrance where he saw a familiar face heading into the school. "Valerie!" he called out waving to her.

"Hey Danny, Sam, Tucker, and uh…"

"Jazz," Danny's sister told her, a little unnerved that she wasn't remember despite being the head of several clubs and movements at Casper.

"Oh, right the girl in the assembly. How was your break?" she asked with a smile.

"Eh decent, you know camp, roadtrips; the works," Danny said. He still couldn't help, but find it odd that while he was so friendly with Val, she was trying to kill his other persona… granted he hadn't told her about it yet, but that could just lead to more problems.

"Be sure to tell me about it at lunch, I'm not sure if we've got any classes together but I'll see you guys around. Try to find me at the assembly," Valerie said as she headed to her locker.

"Yeah, see you around," Danny said as he entered the building with Sam and Tucker as Jazz headed off to her locker. "You know I need to tell her right?"

"Kinda late for that buddy," Tucker told him. "If you'd gone straight and told her first thing you might've avoided this, but now she'd go ballistic. Especially after you two dated for a whole week."

"I know," Danny said, scratching the back of his neck in guilt. "But she'll found out eventually right?"

"Danny," Sam deadpanned. "Out of every non-ghost (and excluding Jazz), name ONE person who knows your secret that you DIDN'T tell."

"What about that incident with Freak Show?" Tucker decided to bring up.

"Doesn't count, he managed to reset everyone's memory," Sam said with a roll of her eyes.

"Okay, point taken," Danny said. "Look I'll see you guys later, they changed my stupid locker again this year."

Danny quickly made way to his locker and put his backpack inside. Noticing the sudden shift of air, he pulled his hands back surprised as his locker was rudely slammed in front of him. "Great… Dash," he mumbled to himself.

"You've got a lot of nerve Fen-turd!" Casper High's best known bully said with a scowl, calling Danny by his usual insult name.

"Nerve? What are you talking about? It's my locker," Danny asked, now noticing that he was subject to several pairs of eyes, probably just because of Dash's obnoxious behavior.

"Don't play dumb, I know you cheated! You had to have!" Dash said as he cracked his knuckles. "And you're going to tell me how you got that answer sheet a second time!"

"Wait, cheated? You mean on the C.A.T.?" Danny said surprised. ' _Great, well at least I know I did well enough for Dash to get suspicious… but that could mean I just got around 60._ ' "I, uh, didn't know… I didn't see the postings yet."

Dash's growl only seemed to grow as he forcefully grabbed Danny's shoulder and dragged him towards the crowd of people over by the result postings. The jock then shoved his way past the people before pointing at the results.

"There you see!?" Dash shouted as he pointed at the results with rage.

Danny scanned the page for his name since the page was in alphabetical order. He found his name and…

Fenton, Danny…...100.0

He'd aced the test, gotten a perfect score. Even Jazz had only gotten a 99.7 when she took it and she was… well, Jazz; top of her class, they even held an assembly to honor her. His grades were all in the B-C range, not straight A's like his sister.

"Wait what?" Danny said, still completely surprised. "I... how?"

"That's what I want to know!" Dash shouted, before his 'bully smile' shone through as he shoved Danny against a locker. "Well maybe I should get you to do my homework from now on. Put that little head of yours to good use."

"That's quite enough Mr. Baxter." Everyone turned and saw Mr. Lancer, Danny's teacher who Danny had never seem to care about Dash's student bullying before… either that or was too oblivious to notice. "Mr. Fenton, my office, I'd like a word with you."

' _Oh great, busted,'_ Danny thought to himself as he walked away with Lancer and Dash glared holes in the back of his head. He had a feeling probably have to deal with Lancer skinning him for thinking he cheated after he managed to steal the test results the first time.

Inside Lance's office, neither of the two took a seat, Lancer just stood with his arms crossed while Danny just stood and tried to calm his nerves.

"Well Mr. Fenton, I honestly don't know what to say. After having 'found' the test scores only to admit yourself, bring them to me before taking the exam and have to sit through a week through of detention I'd thought you'd be taking this seriously, but I must say I've actually misjudged you in just how seriously."

"Uh…" Danny said intelligibly.

"No need to act so nervous Daniel," Lancer said, calling Danny by his official name as he closed his eyes, breathed deeply, and actually smiled. "I saw you studying hard during your week of detention, so I believe you that your results are well earned. Though I have to say, a solid 100 would be surprising for any student."

' _Maybe I was able to do well 'cause I'm only used to only being able to study for a half hour each exam,'_ Danny thought bitterly before a familiar sensation coursed through his body. He exhaled and sure enough, there was a blue wisp of air to signal a nearby ghost. ' _Really? Now?'_

"It's just like I've been telling you," Lancer said with his eyes still closed. "If you finally manage to focus on your studies and stop the constant vanishing, you're capable of great things." When there was no response, he opened his eyes and saw that Danny wasn't there; he'd disappeared without as much as making a sound. "GONE WITH THE WIND!"

Outside Lancer's office Danny quickly phased into the dark janitor's closet. "Well there goes any respect I could have gotten from Lancer," he grumbled to himself. "Nothing else for it, GOING GHOST!" A bright ring appeared around him and transformed him into his ghostly persona; Danny Phantom.

Turning incorporeal, he headed out of the door and looked around the hallways of the school trying his hardest to find where the ghost warning was coming from with no luck. He passed by the gym equipment room where he sometimes found box ghost, the cafeteria where he sometimes battled lunch lady, and even the Counselor's Office where his old enemy Spectra had worked. Nothing.

' _This doesn't make sense,_ ' Danny thought to himself as he floated down a hallway that was now empty save for one man. ' _I should've found something by now, but I'm not seeing a single ghost.'_

"Good morning." the man said as he passed.

"Morning," Danny muttered in return before realizing, ' _Wait a minute, he can see me?_ ' Quickly turning his head, Danny saw that he'd had disappeared into thin air. ' _Make that COULD see me. But not even other ghost's can see me when I become fully incorporeal. So how the heck could he?_ '

Though bugged to no end, Danny found a nice private spot before turning corporeal and reverting back to his human form. ' _Great, now I need to hurry to class._ ' He barely managed to make it into the door when the first bell rang.

"Mister Fenton, good to see that you're on time," Lancer said, his eyes in a slight glare. Danny noticed he was in front of the entire class, everyone looking eagerly for Danny to get scolded. "Care to tell me why you left our conversation early?"

' _Come on, come on, think!'_ Danny shouted internally before arriving at a direct answer. "Oh, uh, my parents tried calling and you don't have great reception in your office." Several of the students laughed and someone (Dash) called him 'mama's boy,' but he did his best to ignore it.

"Really?" Lancer said raising his eyebrows. "And you couldn't wait to talk to them because why?"

"Do you really want to want them think for even a second that I'm in trouble with their ghost problems?" Danny asked with a fairly guilty smile.

Lancer knew that even if the Fenton parents were geniuses, with their eagerness to catch ghosts, Maddie's trigger happy tendencies, and Jack's stubbornness that every little thing was ghost related and he needed to be on the case, it was very likely the Fenton's could be seen breaking through the school doors on account of a missed call from their children. And his office did have terrible cell phone reception, he knew from experience.

"Very well mister Fenton, I'll excuse you this time. Take your seat and we'll get started."

After Danny took his seat, Lancer began taking roll. He wanted to talk to Tucker and Sam to let them know what was going on, but he wouldn't have a chance seeing how far away their assigned seats were and they didn't share any classes until history which would normally be at the end of the day if the first day wasn't full of half length classes so they'd be done before lunch and have time for the assembly afterwards before an early dismissal.

Throughout the rest of the day Danny was completely on nerves, waiting for that ghost to show up and ruin his school day. Occasionally his Ghost Sense did activate and he excused himself to the bathroom, but he never caught sight of any ghost or the man from earlier.

Finally it was time for lunch and as many of the students quickly piled out, Danny stopped Sam and Tucker. "Guys, we gotta talk," Danny said noticing that the history teacher had also left for either a lunch in the teacher's lounge or to get ready for the assembly.

"I'll say," Tucker said with a whimsical smile. "A perfect score on the C.A.T? Man, you sure you didn't cheat again." His response was a swift slap to the back of the head, courtesy of Sam. "Hey!"

"Don't listen to him Danny, you did really well. Even your Jazz is excited for you, and when was the last time she ever liked be outdone in something?"

"Besides the number of times I've been grounded?" Danny asked with a somewhat whimsical smile before turning serious. "But I'm not talking about that. There's a ghost going around and I can't find it."

"Probably a new ghost," Tucker said to him. "Most of the time a ghost would come out face to face and try to fight you, catch you, or at least humiliate you by now."

"Right, but this one's different. There was this man I passed, I was going quick so I didn't get a good look at him, but he said good morning to me when I should've been invisible."

"That doesn't sound good and he's already inside school," Sam thought aloud. "We'll have to keep an eye out for him… You don't think it could be another half ghost could you?"

"I don't think so, after I ruined Vlad's cloning project the only half-ghosts out there should be him, me, and Danni." Danny groaned. "Why can't I ever have a normal day at school?"

"Because then you might actually do pretty well?" Tucker said with a smirk. "Also I just got this video on my phone. It looks like Technus is attacking the shopping center, but our friend Val seems to be stopping him just fine. Technus can't even take over the suit she's using."

Looking at the screen on Tucker's phone, he saw Valerie in her new and recently upgraded armor piloting her jet board as she managed to fight off Techus, not able to capture him, but enough to get rid of his technology and scare him off before leaving the scene (and heading back to school).

"And get this, people are starting to call her the _Crimson Ranger_ and they think that the two of you are Ghost Hunting partners," Tucker said as they watched the video. "Even though I don't think you should tell her, maybe we can at least find a way to give her a Thermos."

"Maybe," Danny said before his stomach grumbled. "Come on, we should head to the Cafeteria. I don't want to have to go the rest of today without lunch."

"That and we still have to sign up for our after school clubs," Sam reminded him. At Casper High, students were required to attend at least one club year round as a graduation requirement and the three had agreed they'd all take one this year so they could focus on classes in their remain years.

"Oh great, then we're already late for sign up," Danny groaned. "Come on, let's go."

In the cafeteria, Danny saw that the there wasn't a line in front of any of the sign up sheets, but most of them were filled out.

"We should've gotten here sooner," the half-ghost sighed before looking apologetically to his friends. "Sorry guys."

"Hey, I'm fine with it, I can still get into my club," Tucker said proudly as he wrote his name under the Robotics Club list's last remaining spot. "Our tech's helped us out in ghost hunting, so maybe this can help me create some better gear. Now for you guys."

"Let's see here… poetry's still open." Danny shook his head. "Pass. Drama, just no. Newsletter, too risky. And the debate club's filled."

"You wanted to join debate?" Sam asked in surprise.

"You'd be surprised how much experience you get talking with Jazz," Danny told her with a strange sense as pride. "That leaves… Ensemble band."

"Ensemble?" Tucker asked.

"Basically the band in this school that's not the marching one," Danny explained before shrugging and writing his name down. "I'm going to have to go with this one through process of elimination."

"Same reason I'm doing this one," Sam said as she wrote her name under Newsletter.

"I thought you loved doing poetry," Danny said, remembering some of the dark and morbid poems Sam shared with them and seemed to be really good at writing.

"After my English project in the Poetry Week assembly last year I got banned from joining," she told him passively. That poem had been plenty dark and depressing even for Sam's standards (she told them she'd brought her A game when writing it), so much so that the school the week afterwards looked so depressed Danny thought Spectra had swung by for seconds. "Plus, this school's drama club is way too cheery. You know what they did to the Hamlet production?"

"Let me guess, the main character and his uncle make amends instead of killing each other," Danny said rolling his eyes. He already read the Shakespearean epic some time ago, so he knew what to expect with Sam upset.

"And everyone lived happily ever after," she groaned. "What's worse is that my parents loved it and thought I should join."

"I never saw the play, so I wouldn't know," Danny said as the three got in line to grab their food. He glanced around in hopes of find Valerie, but apparently she was still on her way back from fighting Technus 'cause he didn't see her. He did see that he was getting quite a few stares from the students.

"All of this attention's starting to get on my nerves, I'm still not sure how the heck I rated that high on the stupid test in the first place."

"Hey relax, it's a phase, it should pass," Tucker said as he grabbed a burger and put it on his lunch tray. Sam gave a small glare to the back of his head; even though the two were great friends, they were still constantly at odds a 'meat lover' and 'vegetarian.'

Danny was going to go for a hot dog, but noticing Sam's look at Tucker he started serving himself a salad and grabbed an apple.

"You're not going to enjoy the first day barbecue?" Tucker asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Eh, the salad looked better," Danny tried to say passively, briefly glancing over his shoulder and noticing the satisfied smile Sam was giving him. Tucker rolled his eyes; how dense could these two be with each other?

The three took their usual seats, seeing as their regular table was open, and began to dig in so that they'd have something in their stomachs before the assembly and an early release.

"So you guys want to head over to Nasty Burger after school?" Tucker asked as they ate. "I think we can use some celebration after our first day and clubs won't start until tomorrow."

"Can't, I have to look around for that ghost, remember?" Danny told him. "I swear this thing is becoming a bigger and bigger pain and we don't even know where to look."

"Well for one idea, not to your right," Sam said ominously as she refused to turn her head to face Danny and appeared to be on edge. "Shallowness detect at three o'clock."

" _Dannnnnnnny~_ " the younger Fenton teen would know that lovely Hispanic voice from anywhere. He tried not to blush or make a complete fool of himself as he turned to face Casper High's biggest heartthrob; Paulina.

"U-uh h-hey Paulina," he stuttered nervously, Sam refused to face either of them as she continued eating her salad and hoping it'd stay down in her stomach. "S-something you need?"

"Oh, I was just hoping you could help me out a little after from now on with a tensey little bit of my homework… Pretty please?" she said, giving a teasing double blink that made it hard for Danny to gather his thoughts. Sam rolled her eyes as she began drinking her juice. "I'm going to need extra help if I'm doing cheerleading and the Newsletter."

Danny heard Sam spew her drink in surprise from behind him. It was times like this where he wished that he could disappear in front of his classmates. This spat between the two wasn't going to be pretty, and he'd have to witness everything.

"You're in the School Newsletter's Club?!" she demanded. The goth wanted nothing more than to run over to the sign-up sheets, ready to make a break for it and cross her name off and switch to drama if Paulina really was in the same club, but the sheets were gone; they'd been collected while the three were in line. Sam prayed that Paulina was just joking, but the truth was far, far, worse.

"More like I'm running it this year," Paulina said proudly as Sam felt herself die inside with every word she said. "Wait… don't tell me that you signed up for the club." Paulina laughed. "Well be sure to come help me when I need you Danny."

Danny's blush from earlier was gone as Paulina left. He looked to Sam in concern, as she was muttering curse after curse under her breath. He knew that the two never got along, but if Paulina was the one in charge he didn't want to imagine what Sam'd have to go through in the Club.

"Do you want me to see if I can cross your name off?" he offered.

"They've probably already have it in the database," Sam sighed glumly. "So now you're helping Paulina with her homework?"

"Fat chance," he said, turning with a glare focused on where Paulina was now sitting with Dash and the rest of the 'popular kids' including the new arrivals they'd decided could join them this year based on some weird first impression rule. "I've already got enough on my plate with my own club and hunting. Plus, it seems like she's only doing this because I'm suddenly the proclaimed 'genius' of the school. It's no better than when Dash tried to bully me into doing his homework after he saw my results."

"What's this?" Tucker asked in a strange mix of surprise, teasing, and pride. "Is our dear Danny actually going to say 'No' to his long time crush Paulina?"

"He is," Danny told him before coming up giving a glum expression. "I don't know how the heck I'm going to do it though. I keep getting nervous when I'm talking to her and I don't want to know how bad she'd rail on me when I finally say…"

"Maybe you can get her email from Valerie," Sam suggested, knowing she couldn't pass up a chance for Danny to refuse her constant instigator. "She's probably got it even if Paulina doesn't talk to her anymore. Refusing might be a little easier if you don't do it face to face first."

"It's worth a shot," Danny said as he finished his salad right before the bell rang. "And now we need to get to the assembly." He put his food tray in the return buckets and heading off. He still had his apple from earlier, but he figured he'd keep as a snack for when he was ghost hunting.

On their way to the auditorium they passed by Valarie who'd managed to return from her encounter with Technus.

"Hey," Danny said to her as walked. "Missed you at our table."

"I had something to take care of," Valerie told them. "I couldn't make it back in time for-" There was a sudden grumble and she blushed, knowing it'd come from her stomach. "...lunch."

Nice guy that he is, Danny offered his uneaten apple to Valerie, who gave a smile as she took the gift. Sam might've been getting more possessive of him as of late (don't mention that to her face though), but she at least knew that Danny was just doing a kindness and Val was a pretty decent person now, even if she was trying to catch his other persona.

"So what clubs are you guys in?" Val asked them.

"Robotics, I'm starting to take it up as a hobby," Tucker said with a small sense of pride.

"Ensemble band, just because nothing else was left," Danny said, though he didn't seem to disappointed.

"Newsletter," Sam said glumly. "But that was before I heard…"

"Paulina was running it?" Val guessed. Sam nodded. "That's why I tried to stay away from it when I signed up for Drama club before I left. She… well she hasn't been the nicest person to me lately, let's leave it at that."

"I can imagine," Danny said, remembering when Paulina, Dash, the other popular kids had completely disregarded her after she'd told them that her family was going through financial troubles. "Do you still have her email?"

"What? You didn't get it when you were following her everywhere like a lovesick puppy?" Valerie asked whimsically. Danny noticed the slightly snide look he was getting from her, as well as the ones from Sam and Tucker.

"...Funny," he said with a small, annoyed glare, evidently not amused. The four took their seats in the back, trying to stay away from the groups of people sitting closer up Danny and Valerie sitting on opposite sides with Sam and Tucker in between them. After a few moments, the school's principal, Ms. Ishiyama, took her place at the podium.

"New students, welcome to Casper High School! Returning students welcome to another year!" A few people clapped to show school spirit, Danny figured Jazz was one of them. "Now I know I should be getting to the start of the year speech I've prepared, but there are a few announcements I'd like to go over. Starting off, one of our very own students had completed quite the academic achievement."

"Cover me," Danny whispered to Sam before turning intangible and phasing through the ground.

"A perfect score on the C.A.T. opens the gateway to several possibilities and I'd like to give a special shout out-" To the rest of the school, it looked like their principle only froze and shuddered a brief second, but Sam and Tucker knew that Danny was overshadowing her. "-But the student would prefer to remain anonymous so never bring it up again… like ever."

Lucky for Danny, he managed to make it back to his seat before anyone got suspicious of his sudden absence or tried to look in his direction.

"She's not even mentioning you?" Val whispered from a few few seats over.

"Kinda relieved," Danny said passively.

"Uh, where was I?" the principal continued. "Since a few of our old club leaders graduated last year I'd like to announce our new leaders. For Newsletter Chad Palmer, who will be missed as he travels abroad in Ireland, we'll have Miss Paulina taking over for us."

"Stop reminding me…" Sam groaned yet again as a couple of people cheered from the front.

"Replacing Jim Enutron, who was accepted into Central Michigan University with a full scholarship, we have Michael Turner taking over as lead in Robotics club and Lloyd Weathers now heading the Programing Club."

"We had a student that was in charge of both Programming and Robotics clubs?" Danny asked Tucker.

"You didn't see that kid, people were calling him a teen genius in our school," his friend told him back.

"And finally we come to the band instructor situation. I'm aware of the rumors floating around and I want to put them to rest; our last band teacher did NOT leave after a nervous breakdown, he simply had another job offer. That said replacing him will be-"

"Sorry I'm late! I'm afraid I got lost," came a voice from the auditorium entrance. The speaker was dressed in odd Victorian style clothing consisting of a dark grey tail coat and a white cravat. His skin was a plain yet fair shade and he had a tall, lean body. He wore narrow glasses over his brown eyes and his hair was mid-length, shaggy, and seemed to be a strange reddish-blonde color.

'Honestly, I'd get lost in a whooooaaa!" As he walked forward, his foot accidentally caught on one of his coat tails as he tumbled to the ground, rolling forward a few times before landing in a heap in the middle of the aisle. Many of the students laughed as man raised his head to look at the Principle with a sheepish smile as he adjusted his glasses.

"Students, this is our new instructor for Marching and Ensemble band… Victor Von Gozart," the principle said with a sigh as Victor stood and dusted himself off and some of the students continued to laugh.

A/N: ( **Goes-Art)**

"Funny band teacher you have there Danny," Valerie said with a laugh.

"Yeah... funny," Danny said as his eyes were narrowed in a glare directed at his new instructor. He opened his mouth only slightly and sure enough, a light blue wisp emerged.

 **Author's Note: I don't own Danny Phantom.**

 **In a small way this a kind of a disguised rant of the series ending (I know it's been over for a while, but I only saw it for the first time a while ago). There are going to be A LOT of new enemies in this story, but I'm going to do my best to make sure that they all actually make sense to be there. Also that not so hidden reference you read just a second ago? Just a little Easter Egg to include from my other favorite Nick Show.**

 **New Powers, New Ghosts, New Fights, New Journeys into the Ghost Zone; It's gonna be a big ride. Until next time readers.**

 **Ciao.**


	2. The Master Among Conductors

_The Master Among Conductors_

"Everyone ready?" Danny asked his team of ghost hunters as they prepared for another hunt. They were still inside the school two hours after the early rehearsal and his team consisted of Sam, Tucker, and his sister Jazz. The setup was relatively simple, Danny would fight with his ghost powers, Sam took her Fenton thermos, Tucker also carried his thermos along with his tech gear, and Jazz came prepared with the _Fenton Ghost Peeler_.

"Yeah, but are you sure this guy's really a ghost?" Tucker questioned as he warmed up his computer in case they needed it. "I mean you saw that tumble he took at the assembly, he seems a bit clumsy to be a ghost threat."

"How about Box Ghost? He's not exactly coordinated either," Danny reminded. For now he decided to remain human until he talked to his band teacher and found out more about him. "Ghozart has to be the man that saw me this morning, I only wish I knew how."

"Beats me, dad's still trying to develop goggles that can see ghosts when they go intangible, but the most he's managed to do was create x-rays. I've done a bit of research on Victor Von Ghozart and if he's being overshadowed by the real ghost they took a pretty important target." Jazz took a few documents out of a folder she'd been using to keep track on the ghosts they've fought. "I did some digging into his background, and he's a prominent figure in his genre of music. He's been managing several concerts on the side, but his biggest achievement was seven years ago when he managed the _London Symphony Orchestra_ in a private performance for the Queen of England and the rest of the royal family."

"Seven years ago?" Danny questioned. "We didn't have the Fenton Ghost portal back then, but did Vlad have his? Do you think Plasmius could be pulling some strings here?"

"I hope not, you know how big this could blow up if Vlad starts sending more ghosts after you in the school," Sam said looking more worried than anyone had seen her in a while. "Danny be careful, we have no idea what this one's capable of."

"I'll be fine, just make sure you're ready to back me up when I've got a confession out of him," Danny said as he headed towards the band room. Once he got close enough his ghost sense activated again, sending a light blue mist out of his mouth. "He's in there, get ready."

Despite having a locker next to the band room last year and having to fight ghosts throughout the school, Danny didn't enter the band room much at all. Glancing around he saw that Ghozart had already decorated by hanging several portraits of who Danny could only guess were famous music composers or musicians. The suspected ghost was busy rearranging the room to suit his needs by moving a heavy percussion set to a different spot against the wall, but after a moment of his work he noticed Danny.

"Oh? I wasn't expecting company today," the teacher said as he wiped his slightly sweaty forehead with a handkerchief he dug from his pocket. "We're supposed to have our first meeting tomorrow, but is there something I can help you with Mr…?"

"Fenton, Danny Fenton," Danny said, trying his best to keep his tone neutral, but a sliver of aggression made it through. Ghozart didn't seem to notice though and continued to smile casually at him.

"Oh right, I remembered seeing your name on the signup sheet for ensemble band, easy to remember the _last_ name on the list. I'm kinda surprised you didn't decide on the still open marching band, free admission to sporting events throughout the year usually convinces the students to choose that route."

"I don't think the uniforms are my style," Danny told him honestly. "What about you? Someone who performed for the Queen of England is now supposed to be teaching in the haunted Amity Park? That seems kind of out of style if you ask me."

"Normally I'd have a funny story about that..." Victor's smile suddenly turned sinister and his eyes turned bright red and his hair started flowing wildly. " _ **But you've caught on far too much, Phantom!**_ "

That was all of the conformation Danny needed. "Guys! Now!"

Victor motioned with his hand and the percussion set he'd struggled moving just a second ago flung itself in front of the classroom door, blocking off the others from entering. As Danny was about to shout and turn ghost as tuba suddenly floated in front of his face and blasted him hard enough with sound it sent him flying back into the wall. He gave a grunt of pain as he tried to stand and noticed Victor floating in mid air with music sheets, trumpets, and other instrument surrounding him in a violent twister as the other tried to break in from outside.

" _ **You fools have no idea what you've stepped into! Once I'm through dealing with you, the other students will begin playing my haunted instruments, eventually bowing completely to my will! And then after I train and tune their performance, lt shall subjugate all who hear it! I'll spread my influence and rule Amity Park and then the world as you know it!**_ " Victor said throwing his head back in an evil laugh.

"That's what you think!" Danny shouted. "I'M GOING GHOST!" Transforming once more into his other persona, Danny Phantom, the half ghost floated into the air, his fist glowing green with spectral energy. "I've beat crazier plans before and I'll stop yours too!"

" _ **Will you now?**_ " Ghozart said with a cocky smile. " _ **You still don't realize-!**_ " In the next instant the tornado ceased; instruments went back into their cases, sheet music into its folder, and the percussion set moved back to its original spot, leaving Sam, Jazz, and Tucker to fall through the door. "There's not really anything to stop."

"Wait, what?" Danny said completely confused.

"That was kind of fun," Ghozart said with a chuckle as his eyes turned from red back to their original brown shade. He adjusted his cravat as he landed. "Sorry for the deception, but I just HAD to try that once given your reputation."

"You're not going to fight me!?" Danny shouted, more than a little peeved that he'd been tricked.

"I don't really want to, but maybe you could hear me out instead of pointing those cylinder prisons at me?" he addressed to Sam and Tucker. The two glanced at each other, but kept the devices pointed at Victor. "Very well… Unlike those other ghosts I'm not here to cause a ruckus for humanity or to *snicker* rule the world. I'm only here to pursue my passion."

"Your passion?" Jazz questioned. "And that would be?"

"Music!" Ghozart shouted, flighing his arms out as he began to walk around the world, occasionally gesturing to instruments. "Humanities greatest creation! The very foundation of expression through sounds! Every song an epic poem! Every note an emoti-!" Victor's worship of music was interrupted as he again tripped on one of his coat tails and face planted onto the floor.

"...You alright?" Danny asked, looking down at the spirit who remained lying on the floor.

"Two words; Mood, Ruined," Victor groaned as he slowly got up and adjusted his glasses. "I really need to get my suit tailored at some point, but you get the idea. I love music and I'm only here to pursue my goals of teaching and conducting it."

"And the whole sphele on haunted instruments?" Tucker decided to ask.

"Not exactly haunted… but they are how I channel my powers," the new instructor explained. "Danny, you're going to be in my classroom for club, so I'll cut you a deal. Carry that ghost capturing device with you whenever you come in here and capture me if you think I'm trying anything sinister. I'll even excuse you early whenever you need to ghost hunt."

Sam, Tucker, and Jazz looked to Danny waiting for him to make a decision. Eventually the teen sighed and returned to his fully human form. "Fine… I'll trust you for now. But did you really have to trick us?"

"I thought it'd be fun, but I can see you don't think so," Victor shrugged. "Tell you what, as an apology gift you can choose any instrument that I have to keep as your own." Several instruments floated in front of him. While still slightly untrusting, Danny, deciding he'd better chose something now instead of getting stuck with something he'd hate later, grabbed a saxophone.

"I'll take this one," he told him as Victor willed the instrument into its case. "But I need to clear a few things up. One, how did you get here if you've been here for so long? The Fenton portal is a recent thing."

"Patience and a lot of mishaps with the Ghost Zone's portals," Victor told them with a slight grimace. "I died in the fifteenth century, but it still took me two centuries to begin to grasp how to properly use the portals."

"So you've been alive- er, been around for a while then," Danny summarized. "Two, why haven't I seen you until now?"

"I've been conducting across the seas and around the country. I've had plenty to keep me busy."

"So you're not overshadowing anyone?"

"No, but I need energy to keep my body in tact. Fortunately the energy source is…"

"Music," Danny guessed and Victor nodded. "And just to make sure, what really happened to the last band teacher?"

"I had no part in that, but from what I understood your Principle was right. He was offered a job in sunny Miami Florida and took the first bus he could to get away from the ghosts. ...I was really the only instructor interested in this job come to think of it."

""I can't imagine why," Danny said with a sigh. "One last thing though, how the heck could you see me this morning in the hall?"

"A special power that took a long time to master, given enough I might be able to teach it to you. But first thing's first, you'll be learning this for now," Victor told him as he handed Danny the case along with a few slim books. "That should be everything to get you started, but be sure to practice diligently. We're going to need you to be ready for our first concert in next month."

"Next month!?" Danny exclaimed. "But I don't even know how to play the basics, how am I supposed to get ready in just a month?"

"We'll manage believe me," Ghozart said with a smile. "I've still got a few things to set up for our first meeting tomorrow, until then take care…"

"Well I think I'll be listening to my own music thanks," Tucker said as he turned on his headphones to one of today's current pop hits, the music was loud enough so everyone could hear the it. Only a few bars in Ghozart's eyes flashed blood red before he quickly took control of a trumpet and blasted a very high note in Tucker's face, knocking the headphones off of him. "OW! HEY!"

"NEVER bring that abomination in range of my ears again," the Band Instructor demanded as his eyes slowly returned to brown. "That garbage sullies the name of music to the depths of the Ghost Zone."

"Everyone's a critic," Tucker complained with a huff as he grabbed the music player and stormed outside, followed closely behind with his friends. "Man can you believe that guy?"

"He seems strange, but it doesn't look like he wants to start trouble," Jazz told him. "You're the one who's in this club, what do you think?"

"I think he's crazy if he can get us concert ready in a month, but I'm not sure what to think of him right now…" Danny told him honestly. "I know one thing though, if he says that he's going to be more understanding than any other club leader when I need to leave for ghost hunting I'm going to need to trust him, at least for now."

 _ **Fenton Household**_

Danny sighed as he wiped his hair with a towel after taking his shower and headed into his room. On his way back from school and confronting his new teacher he'd managed to find and capture Technus and send him back to ghost zone. The battle was over almost instantly because of the beating the master of technology had received earlier, courtesy of Valarie. He'd gotten home after that, but he had yet to tell his parents out of his perfect score on the C.A.T. believing it might just lead to more trouble.

' _I don't have any homework and there aren't any ghosts to hunt right now, so now what?'_ he thought to himself before glancing at the saxophone case he'd gotten earlier. _'I know Ghozart told me his whole scheme speech from earlier was just a joke, but can I really believe that?'_

Deciding he'd find out for himself Danny opened his saxophone case, trusting that his friends would know if something was happening to him. After reading the brief passage on how to set up his instrument and wetting the saxophone's reed he was ready to go. After setting up the music stand in the case he was ready to start playing.

"All right let's see how this goes," Danny said before blowing on the instrument. No sounds came out at first, so Danny tried to adjust the way he was playing. Eventually he did make a sound, but it was a horrid and shrill squeaking noise. Danny grimaced at the sound before trying again and continuing to practice for the next five minutes, making squeak after squeak.

"Maddie, did one of our kids adopt a pet cockatoo?" his father asked from downstairs.

"No Jack, they wouldn't have brought one home without us knowing."

"Well it still sounds like we have one in the house and I'm pretty sure the poor bird's asking to be put out of its misery."

' _Nice,'_ Danny thought glumly before continuing to play. _'Even though I'm playing like a banshee I don't think these things are haunted, but I know my teacher's crazy if he thinks that he can get us ready in a month.'_

After practicing for a full hour Danny felt like he'd made at least a little progress. He'd managed to play a few notes in a row without squeaking and he was starting to get the finger positioning for most of the basic notes down. All in all he considered that par for the course, but knew that if he didn't start getting better soon he was going to have to give his family earplugs as a way of apology.

 _ **The Next Day**_

Danny was in band room after he had gotten out of school, this was going to be his first day of ensemble band practice. He noticed that several other students had brought in their instruments though there were clearly already a few without. He wasn't the only beginner he could plainly see, but that wasn't reassuring him in the slightest.

Victor Von Ghozart stood behind the band room's podium, waiting for the last of the students to come in. Danny's ghost sense had activated a while ago, but like all other types it had only happened once. Once the band teacher felt satisfied that everyone had entered, he closed the band room door before clearing his throat and addressing his students.

"Welcome to Casper High Ensemble Band," he said with a kind smile. "Looking around this room I can tell you that I can clearly see many of you are in discomfort just by being here today. 'What if I make a fool of myself?' 'What if I become labeled a band geek?' 'What if this destroys my social life?' Well… if my entrance to yesterday's assembly is anything to go off of, I already have experience with at least two of those."

A few of the students chuckled at that statement.

"I can tell you, I've met several students like you before," Victor continued, his face now turning serious. "Some of you might be here because your parents are making you." A few students nodded in admittance. "Others are here because this was your last choice for a club and you needed to complete the requirement." Danny knew he was included in that group. "All I ask is for you to trust me until our first concert in one month. Put in the work and practice, learn to play your instrument with all your ability, experiment with the idea of expressing yourself through music. If you promise me that you will and stay open to learning, anytime after the concert any student may ask to leave with their Club requirement fulfilled. I will ask no questions, nor will I scorn you, I will simply thank you for trying this club and wish you luck with whatever you choose to pursue… Do we have a deal?"

Everyone in the room nodded in agreement. Danny could see that several students were happier than ever, knowing that they could get this year-long requirement done with only a month's work.

"Good, now let's play some music."

The process after that was fairly simple, Ghozart issued instrument rentals to his students and told them how to keep tempo as they performed and what a conductor's actions meant. Once he'd answered any questions he moved on to the next point.

"Alright now open your beginner's books and take a look at the first trial song. Now I don't want anyone to perform the song except the percussion section. As practice starting off, I'm merely going to be conditioning and I want all wind and string instruments to finger the notes as we go using the charts."

Victor made raised his arms and the students got their instruments ready. The band teacher wove his hands four times in rhythm to set the tempo before the class began to finger the notes. Danny had some trouble switching from note to note and was sure he'd gotten a few notes wrong.

"Oh, I almost forgot," the conductor said once the song had finished. He opened a small case on his desk, taking out the conductor's wand from within. "Twice more, just like that."

The band performed once more, this time Danny felt just a bit more sure about the notes he was practicing. But the third time they did it felt… strange. On the last bit of the song, Danny almost tapped the wrong buttons, but his fingers suddenly switched to tap the right ones and it felt a little forced.

' _What was that?'_ he thought to himself a little unnerved. ' _Is he doing something to me?_ '

"Good, now let's play for real," Victor said as he again began to conduct. Danny started playing, making an occasional squeak as he did. The second time through he felt himself adjusting and staying more in tone. The third time he felt major changes, completely changing the way he held the saxophone, now feeling like he was playing it more naturally.

' _That's it! He IS doing something to me!'_ Danny thought with his eyes narrowed. His hand was about to go for the Fenton thermos (hey if his parents were ghost hunters no one would be too surprised if he came with ghost hunting gear), but stopped himself. ' _If I try and catch him now there's no going back… and I don't feel like he's completely taking me over, I'm just playing better… what do I do?'_

In the end Danny decided to wait until after club was over to address him. An hour and a half later the rest of the students were dismissed as club had ended. Danny purposefully took a little longer to put his equipment away. Once the two were alone he decided it was time to get answers.

"What was that you were doing to me?" he demanded, glaring at Ghozart as his teacher closed the door.

"Call it a tool of assistance," Victor said as he took the wand out and brought it in front of Danny. "It was a hard item to obtain, but this is one of the Ghost Zone's treasures. It doesn't take over as much as it corrects mistakes, making the user perform more accurately and makes it all seem natural. It's useless in combat though and will break like any other conductor's wand."

"Isn't that cheating to teach though?" Danny asked. "You're still controlling us right?"

"Not really, the way I see it, this helps you to uncover your true potential, nothing more. When you practice tonight as well as you did in here you'll see what I mean."

"Alright, but what about the promise you made to the students? Did you really mean that?"

"Of course I did," Victor told him. "And you're included in that deal too. Feel free to leave my class after our concert after a month's over."

"And you really think the teachers are going to accept that? They're probably going to be more than a little ticked at you for bending the rules."

"Oh… that's true…" Ghozart said before slumping his head over. "And here I was, just trying to sound cool."

"Uh… okay?" Danny responded a little concerned. ' _He made that impossible promise just to sound cool? What the heck is with this guy?'_ "Well I need to get going, I'll see you thursday."

"Actually, do you have anything planned for tomorrow?" Victor asked him. "I know that I told you that my little takeover scheme was just a joke, but I want to see just what the famous Half-Ghost is really made of. Your friends and sister are more than welcome to join us in you doubt me."

"You want to fight me?" Danny asked. "But if a ghost comes up…"

"You can leave, just meet me here tomorrow after your classes and we'll get started."

 _ **The Next Day: Lunch**_

"And you told him yes?" Sam asked Danny as they sat down to the lunch table the next morning. "You know this sounds like a trap."

"If he wanted to attack me he would've had a better chance when we first met," Danny told them. "You guys were trapped outside with the thermoses and we were in a room full of band instruments, if he wanted me gone he would've tried it then. He just wants a chance to fight me, I don't see what the big deal is."

"I dunno, we've only know him for a day," Tucker said with his arms crossed. "None of us have club after school, but are you sure it's worth it?"

"This is my best chance to find out what his real power is like," Danny told them. "If he does turn on us later, wouldn't it be better to know how he fights?"

"I guess…" Sam admitted before a thought came to her. "Do you think this is some sort of training?"

"Why would he want to train me? I catch ghosts, not help them. Plus, I've already got tons of powers don't I?" Danny told them, he was becoming annoyed with how much he was getting underestimated.

"Maybe, but remember this guy's been around since the fifteenth century, he's had longer to master his powers than you have so maybe he knows a thing or too," Sam suggested.

"I still don't know why it matters to him whether I get stronger or not, all he seems to care about is music," Danny said.

"Well more powers can't hurt can they?" Tucker asked. "Plus, don't think that you're the only one who's improving. I've already gotten several robotics books offered by the clubs I can look at our Gear latter. Maybe your folks are the real ghost hunting whizzes, but nothing saying I can't tweak the tech a bit in the right direction."

"Glad to hear you're feeling right at home at least," Danny grumbled before noticing that Valerie was walking towards them. He was about to wave her down when Dash and Paulina stopped her. After talking with her (and Val looking more than a little uncomfortable) the three went to sit at the 'popular' table, though Val looked like she was dragged there against her will. "What the heck was that about?"

"Dunno, but I think I remember hearing second hand that Val finally managed to move into a better home," Tucker told them. "That and her dad's starting to get his old reputation back as a security contractor, but that's all I know."

"So she's likely got money back and just because of that Dash, Paulina, and the rest of the cool kids are flocking to her," Sam groaned before resting her forehead on the edge of the cafeteria table in depression.

"Oh that's right… how bad was club with yesterday?" Danny had to ask, though he knew Sam wouldn't want to talk about it.

"They're making me their coffee girl," Sam told them, her voice slightly muffled under her hair. "Club leader Paulina _McShallow_ can't make me pay for the drinks, but I'm the one who always gets sent out whenever there's a coffee run and she made sure that people always ask me separately so that I had head out ten times last night. And that's not all."

"It gets worse?" Danny asked.

"For you yeah, she's turning the club into a _Danny Phantom Search Squad_ , and she wants plenty of photos of you. She's becoming more and more obsessed on making you hers."

A couple of months ago Danny might've been ecstatic to hear that, but now? Now he was glaring daggers in Paulina's direction. Anyone can only take so much abuse from their crush before he or she snaps, and in Danny's case most men would have hit that point a LONG time ago.

 _ **Later**_

Telling Jazz hadn't been difficult, but convincing her that they'd hear the teacher out was a little on the trickier side. In the end though the four managed, now arriving in Victor's office. Danny tried knocking on the door. "Uh Professor Ghozart, you in?" There was no response so Danny tried knocking again. "Teach?"

Sam tried the doorknob and saw that it was unlocked. Opening the door they saw the teacher looking through a set of files, tapping his chin thoughtfully as he looked through the pages within, a set of headphones adorned on his ears with music loud enough that Danny could tell it was some form of classical music. Tapping his teacher on the shoulder Victor realized he wasn't alone and gave a startled cry as he fell from his chair in a tumble.

' _Is this really the same guy from yesterday?'_ Danny thought to himself. "We're here."

"Yes, I can see that," Ghozart said as he brushed himself off and stood. "Sorry about that, I was looking through the files for sheet music to use in our concert."

Danny glanced at the file, which was titled _Beethoven's Fifth Symphony._ Seeing the music sheets, the song looked more complicated than anything he'd seen. He figured a year of normal practice couldn't get him ready for that, but then remembered that Victor had his special method of teaching.

"Ready to get started then?" Victor asked.

"You bet I am," Danny told him as he transformed.

"Good, grab your friends and follow me, I know a better place for this."

Carrying his friends and turning intangible with them, Danny followed Ghozart as he and his teacher flew out of the school. The traveled in the skyline for a time before Victor guided them to a small clearing a couple of miles out of town. They were surrounded by foliage, as to avoid and onlooker, but the strange part about the place was the massive storage unit.

"What's in there?" Danny asked as Ghozart unlocked the door. Several instruments floated out, but Danny could tell that these had certainly seen some us, many appeared to be badly rusted and had a few part missing.

"I guess you could call this my graveyard of instruments," Victor said as he took control of several of them. Danny could see he clearly wasn't using all of them, the were hundreds of those things still inside. "Not then take your place on the opposite end of the field."

"Just to warn you I'm in a bit of a bad mood," Danny told him as he floated on the other end of the clearing. "So I might try to work off a little aggression."

"I guess a fight's good for that, and these instruments can stand to be broken, that why I'm using them," Ghozart said as his eyes again turned red. "Begin." He wove his hand and several instruments sent out blasts of sound. Danny tried his best to weave around the attacks in flight, but there were just too many to avoid as he was struck.

' _Dang it,_ ' he thought as he hit the floor harshly. ' _I couldn't avoid them all.'_

"Danny! Turn intangible when he does that!" he heard Tucker call out.

"I got it!" he told her as he flew up and blasted at Ghozart with a ghost ray, but one of the rusted trumpet intercepted the attack and was destroyed. "Dang!" Danny shouted before he was hit back yet again by a flying clarinet.

"TRY THIS SYMPHONY!" Several of the instruments blasted out a sonic attack. Wiser from the last time, Danny turned intangible, causing the sound waves to fly through him.

' _Let's see if this works,'_ Danny thought as he soared forward while intangible reeling back for a punch as he passed the weapons. ' _If I just turn tangible at the last second, I can hit him!_ ' Danny became physical as he threw the punch forward, but saw that Ghozart was ready. _'That's right! He can still see me when I'm-'_ "GAH!"

The punch Ghozart delivered to his gut was one of the worst he'd gotten, it left him breathless as he soared back and slammed his back into a tree.

"Danny!" his friends called.

"I'm okay…" Danny said though he was clearly exasperated as he stood before turning intangible again and flying right at Ghozart. "I can beat him!"

"I'm pretty sure attack the same way twice in a row isn't the best strategy," Ghozart said as he braced himself again. Instead of following through with his attack, Danny instead dove into the ground. "What!?"

With Ghozart unable to see him after diving underground, Danny flew out of the ground behind his teacher, and while his target just noticing him, Danny blasted him in the back with a point blank double ghost ray before diving back into the ground.

"Not bad! But staying too close to the ground's bad for my health!" Victor shouted before flying up into the air. Taking his instruments with him. "Now where is he?" Noticing Danny emerging from the ground from behind him he sent out another round of sound wave which Danny dove to avoid. "At least he's using his head, but staying intangible takes energy and going underground takes even more if he wants to avoid an attack, he can't do it forever."

"Danny, try the freezing ray!" Sam shouted.

The half ghost came out of the ground once me and sent out a teal blue ray at Ghozart who used his instruments to defend himself, but found them frozen in the ray. As the instrument start falling to ground Danny rushed up to meet Ghozart. "I've got you now!"

"Not quite! They might not make sound, but they're still mine!" Ghozart said a he wove his hands. The frozen instrument began flying rapidly towards Danny as he was struck by a flurry of attacks from instruments inside the ice. Victor then positioned them all around him so he couldn't escape. "Checkmate."

"Not happening!" Danny told him before taking a deep breath and unleashing his ultimate attack, the _Ghostly Wail._ The sound he emitted was enough to cause the ice to shatter and the weapons to be destroyed. Ghozart and the others gripped their ears in pain as Danny continued the attack for as long as he could, eventually though he had to stop. "Ow… throat," he said hoarsely.

"You're... much better than I thought," Ghozart said, though it was clear he was quickly becoming short of breath. "But I'm afraid I'll have the last say." Thirteen more instruments floated out of the storage unit and surrounded him in a miniature vortex.

' _Dang it, I can't do anything!'_ Danny shouted before trying to channel energy to his hand. ' _Scratch that, I think I might have enough for one more blast, but when I fire it one of his instruments just take the hit for him… but I don't have a choice.'_

The battle worn Phantom channeled the last of his strength into his right hand, but it felt different. Instead of the strange glow emitting from his palm to use in a blast, he saw a small green sphere instead. _'This isn't what I wanted!_ '

"Is this your last attack?" Ghozart asked from where he was protected. "You only have this one shot. If I were you I'd make it count… a lot."

' _Whatever, I always use what I got,_ ' Danny thought before grabbing the sphere winding his arm back and throwing it as hard as he could. The ball went straight at Ghozart's head, but a tambourine moved to intercept the attack.

"Please, was tha-?" The moment the attack hit the cymbal it destroyed it before bouncing and hitting the clarinet on his right before bouncing again destroying one instrument after another going from one side of Ghozart to another with making each perform it's selected sound before obliterating them. The band teacher followed the attack awestruck before it hit the final instrument (a cymbal) and bouncing to the band teacher's shocked and undefended face before exploding.

"Wow… New ghost power…" Danny said, completely out of breath as he slowly descended. "Cool."

"Danny!" Sam yelled, running towards where he landed with Tucker and Jazz following close behind. The moment Danny's feet touched the ground he was forced out of his Phantom form and fell backwards on his rump. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I think so," Danny said, giving a slightly pained smile. "Throat's still kinda sore though, anybody got water?"

"Here," Tucker said as he grabbed a fresh water bottle out of his backpack and handed it to his friend. Danny opened it and took a long drink. "But man, you were doing awesome! Phasing into the ground so he couldn't see you coming and a new ghost power? That's crazy!"

"That it was…" Ghozart said as he landed on the ground, most of his coat was torn and his glasses looked like they'd been in better shape, but somehow he was still standing and made his way over to Danny and the others. Jazz didn't like where this was going and kept one hand on the _Fenton Ghost Peeler._ But as Victor stood in front of Danny he smiled and kneeled, reaching his arm out to help him back on his feet. "Well done."

"So you were training me," Danny said, allowing himself to be slightly more relaxed as he stood, though needing both Sam and Tucker to keep him up.

"Training you? Oh I did no such thing," Ghozart said, feigning a 'what are these crazy kids talking about?' shrug. "Though I did find a couple of flaws with your fighting style, if you want to hear them."

"Yeah, I guess I could stand to hear it from you," Danny admitted, figuring that this really was a training exercise.

"For starters your underground move was a good technique, but it's costly. Staying intangible for too long will drain your energy and if you run out while underground that's a fatal mistake. Your Ghostly Scream is powerful, but don't think you can get out over every situation with it, as again it's costly to your energy and can leave you open when you finished."

"Got it."

"But the most important advice is LEARN. TO. DODGE." Ghozart's stare was now menacing.

"He's not lying, you always do get hit a lot when ghost hunting," Jazz told him. "Even when it looks like you can clearly dodge an attack you sometimes-"

"Okay! I get it!" Danny yelled before grimacing slightly.

"You'll heal quick, just be sure to get plenty of rest," Ghozart told him as his hand glowed to repair his glasses. "Meet me here next week at the same time, maybe I can show you another way to improve."

"Still sounds like training to me," Danny sighed as he managed to stand again. "But why are you helping me?"

"Why? I already told you, I love seeing just what a Half-Ghost is capable of. And since you're young I think you can actually listen and benefit from what I have to tell you."

"Kind of a weird reason," Danny said as he transformed. "Everyone grab on, first stop Tuck's place." With that the four ghost hunters took off into the evening sky.

Once they were gone Ghozart allowed himself a smile. "He used a freezing ray technique though… That means that lovable oaf Frostbite's already taught him something then."

"Reflecting on the past?"

"Whoa!" Victor shouted out in surprise as he noticed the young child version of Clockwork suddenly standing behind him. "Will you stop that!? I hate it when you phase in right behind me!"

"Well it feels nostalgic," the ghost of time told him with a wry smile. "So what do you think of the boy?"

"He's strong, but he hasn't even scratched the surface of his potential," Ghozart told him, calming himself. "I'll help however I can, but I won't be able to teach him everything, his untapped power is astounding."

"I appreciate your help old friend," Clockwork said, transforming in his adult form. "I'm still a little surprised you came here as easily as I asked you."

"Casper High needed a band teacher and I was between other jobs and I felt like putting the past behind me," Victor told him with a shrug. "Speaking of which it's time I got back to the band room, I need to get ready for Marching Band practice tomorrow morning. But before I do I have a gift for you." Ghozart took out a small leather case with a small instrument in it. "This is a recorder for your little companion to play."

"Thank you, she's been starting to get bored as of late, this might be just what she needs," Clockwork told him before creating a small portal back to his realm. "I'll be sure to check in later."

"I'm sure you will," the musical ghost said as his friend went into the portal and disappeared. "Oh he is going to HATE me when Lunch Box Ghost starts to play that thing! This'll teach him to surprise me."

 _TimeSkip_

 _(_ _ **Author's Note: Here's a schedule to keep things simple**_

 _ **Danny's Activities:**_

Ensemble Band: Tuesday, Thursday, Before School on Friday

Training with Ghozart: Wednesday's

 **Sam's Activities**

Newsletter: Tuesday, Thursday

 **Tucker's Activities**

Robotics: Tuesday, Thursday

 **Valerie's Activities**

Drama: Monday, Wednesday

 _ **If there's any confusion, leave a comment in the reviews.**_ )

 _For the next few weeks Danny, Tucker, Sam, and Jazz, had kept to a constant schedule and worked on completing another year of school. Ghosts had been coming into their world less frequently, and whenever on did arrive Danny was able to quickly capture it, no small part on account of his new strength._

 _His weekly training exercise with Ghozart every Wednesday had helped him improve in skill, though he hadn't gotten any new Ghost Powers. He was finally beginning to trust his band teacher enough to where he didn't feel the need to take his friends with him when he trained. Ghost hunting wasn't the only thing he'd grown in though, he'd gotten better at performing with a Saxophone. Since he was now had more time to study his grades were also doing much better than last year, not straight A's but it was an improvement._

 _His sister Jazz hadn't really gone through any changes with her school life, but since she was the most open after school, everyone started counting on her to stall the ghosts while they tried to find a way to get out of clubs._

 _Tucker's Robotics club was also going well, while he hadn't gotten enough to help Danny or his friends out with their gear he was still excelling at his club. He'd gotten move of the technique down for powering systems and had even learned plenty on motor functions._

 _Which left Sam… well, working in club run by Paulina was giving her all of the perks she thought it would. NONE._

 _Despite Sam's apparent misfortune, life had turned into almost a routine for the group of young ghost hunters and the three felt themselves descending into a life of ease, but all of that was about to be interrupted._

One morning the Fenton Ghost portal became activated (and as usual no one around was there to noticed) and one of the ghost zone's residents floated out of the spectral realm. It had been a bit of time since this ghost had come to this world, but now it had decided to cause a bit of trouble. Phasing out of the basement and and flying into the morning sky for a few moments, it found the group of people that were responsible for its earlier defeat. The ghost kept it's distance so Danny's Ghost sense ability wouldn't activate and listened in.

"So why are you walking with us to school today?" Tucker asked as he walked with the others. "Normally on Fridays you have to be at school early for band practice."

"Because of our concert," Danny told his friends as he lugged his saxophone case with him to drop it off at the school. "We got this morning off because our big performance is tonight at six thirty. You guys are coming right? We're play Beethoven."

' _So now he's in a school band, and a pretty boring sounding one at that,'_ the ghost thought before smiling. _'Well he's given me grief before, let's see how badly I can screw him up for a change.'_ Laughing, the ghost left to stake out for tonight.

"'Fraid I can't come," Tucker told him. "We've got a robotics meetup in Folker High. (one of the towns bordering Amity Park) I'm taking the bus there an hour before the concert so I can't even watch you practice."

"I didn't think that Robotics would have competitive meets," Jazz said aloud.

"We have more than you think, but this is actually more of teamwork exercise," Tucker explained. "What happens is we're assigned team that all have some Casper High students and some Folker High students in them. We're given an hour to design and build a robot that's bipedal (or two legged) before we send them across their football field. We get awarded points based on how far our robot gets on its battery, the top speed it reaches, and how straight it's able to travel. I'm actually looking forward to it."

"Have fun with that Tucker," Jazz told him. "I'll be at the concert and mom and dad are really looking forward to hearing you perform. You don't have a solo do you?"

"Not with Beethoven," Danny told her glumly. "Ghozart had a hard time fitting my piece into the band to begin with, but I think we can make it work. What about you Sam?"

"Well..." the goth began before sighing. "Paulina hasn't been doing the greatest job running the newsletter, she's yet to put out a single article so far because she's so obsessed about making the first one about Danny Phantom. She's finally gotten enough pressure to write an article, but she's leaving all of the work to me and she gave me, her quote; _'The most boring and likely to put someone to sleep topic on campus.'_

"Ouch, what do you have to write about then, all the sport trophies Dash won?" Danny asked with a laugh.

"...The concert," Sam admitted. Noticing Danny's, expression growing glum she tried to reassure. "A-At least that what she thinks, but I mean for someone who obsesses about her make-up for three hours a day who is she to judge right? I think she's going to miss out."

"...Yeah, I guess you're right," Danny said with a small smile. "But we really need the concert to go well tonight, Ghozart's job depends on it."

"You mean because of the deal that students could leave after their first concert," Jazz summarized. "How did the Marching Band concert go?"

"Only four students left and the band's performance was pretty good from what I've been hearing," Danny told them. "So that leaves our performance and if everything goes well he'll be able to keep teaching."

"What about you?" Tucker asked. "Are you going to stay in the club or are you going to drop out?"

"If I do leave I'm not going to do it now," Danny told them. "He's helped me with the training and I feel like I'm starting to even stronger, strong enough that I finally might be able to clone myself. That and you guys have never heard me play, but I feel like I'm getting good."

"He actually is," Jazz confirmed. "Mom and dad are really surprised with him and none of us can believe he's doing so well in just a short month."

"It's that wand of his, but I guess that's good for us. We just have to make sure nothing goes wrong. But who'd want to screw up a concert?"

 _ **Later That Night- Manson Residence**_

Sam was in her cavern of twilight shadows (her room), getting herself ready for the concert. Since she was going to a band performance she decided she'd keep her outfit simple instead of the spider queen dress on she wore on special occasions. She decided that she'd wear a slender long black dress and stellios, but keep her eye mascara, lipstick, and hair the same as they always were. The only thing that was even slightly gothic was her spiderweb design bag, but she needed to bring it to carry her notebook and camera.

"Alright, time to head out," Sam said to herself before exiting her room. She quickly hurried down the stairs to front door, hoping to get out the door before-

"And just where do you think you're going young lady?" she heard her mother, Pamela Manson, ask from behind her with her arms crossed. "I know it's not curfew yet, but I know you're dressed up for something."

"Mom, it's something I have to do for school," Sam told her as she put on her coat hoping to get out of the door.

"What could be for school at this hour? You told us you don't have any projects coming up during dinner," her father, Jeremy Mason said.

"It's for newsletter club," Sam told them. "It's my our first article and I need to make sure it's good." She sincerely hoped that her parents would leave at that, but of course they wouldn't.

"What kind of first topic are they doing that has you dress up? Is it something gothic? Is it something filled with unmentionable teen angst?"

"I don't really think that Ensemble Band has any teen angst in it," Sam said, hoping her parents would just accept that answer and let her go. The reality was much worse, so much so that Sam wished they'd said 'no.' Her parent's were smiling, and not a 'I'm going to prove our daughter wrong' smile, it was a pleasant one.

"Hold on while I get my coat," Jeremy Manson said.

And that was how Sam now had to travel to Danny's concert as a forced reporter by Paulina, with her overly sophisticated parents. If there was ever a reason for Sam to be depressed, she'd be hard pressed to find a better one than this.

"So do you know anything about the band teacher Samantha?" her mother asked, causing the teen to cringe as they walked up the steps to the school.

"I've met him; he's a pretty nice guy, but he's proven to be a little clumsy at times."

"And what kind of music is he going to play?" Sam's father asked. "Hopefully he's not just taking movie themes and having students perform those to get by."

' _I actually think that's a pretty fun idea… no wonder my parents hate it,'_ Sam thought, hoping for a way to get her parent's out of here. "I dunno, I think I remember Danny saying he was going to be doing Beethoven."

"Danny? As in Danny Fenton?" her mother quickly asked, her eyes darting around the entrance worriedly.

"Yeah he's here, he's in the band" Sam said, right before realizing how she could turn the situation to her favor. "His family's here too to watch him perform. Maybe I can find his parents and we can-"

"Oh honey, don't we have that- er important thing to do tonight?" Jeremy Mason asked.

"Oh yes that important... _thing_ at… the other end of town! Oh we're sorry sweetie, you father and I just remembered something, but be sure you tell us how everything went okay? Okay."

And with that the Manson parents rushed from the school as far as their feet could carry them, leaving a very satisfied Sam in their wake. Opening the door to the school they saw a lot of the families of the performers gossiping the hallways. Eventually she found Jazz near her family.

"Hey," she said to the older Fenton sibling. From where she was standing she could see that Jazz had also dressed up in a long black dress and heels, as had her mother, but unlike Sam her outfit didn't have that Gothic flair to it. Jack Fenton was also there, but he elected to wear his orange jumpsuit with an orange and blue tie striped tie.

"Hey," Jazz said back. "Why do you look so happy?"

"My parents were about to come watch the concert with me, but I managed to frighten them off," Sam told her with a smile. "All I had to do was mention your parents and we got to avoid an evening of unwanted squabbles."

"Nice work," Jazz congratulated with a smile before she noticed the handbag. "That your reporting gear?"

"Yeah, just a notepad, pen and camera; I like to keep things simple. Have you seen Danny?"

"No, but I'm sure he's doing alright, I mean he didn't seem nervous this morning? What could have change.

 _ **Band Room**_

' _Did he REALLY need us to wear these!?'_ Danny thought heatedly as he looked at the suit he'd been given by Ghozart, which the rest of the students were wearing. The uniform consisted of a tailcoat and cravat like his teacher wore, although instead of a grey suit the students all wore dark brown. He'd brought along some spray-on hair gel for before he performed, but seeing himself now he figured he looked dandy enough.

"All right people, gather 'round!" Victor said to the students clapping his hands together to garner attention. "Now, you all know the songs, we've all practiced a month for this, now it's time to show the school what you're made of! I know that I might not see some of you after tonight, but to whoever that may include, it's been nothing short of an honor teaching for you, it really has been." Victor turned to walk away before stopping. "Oh, and if any of you make a single mistake…"

The room was so silent you could see a pin drop, Danny was surprised Ghozart's eyes didn't turn red from all of the menace he had.

"Say something funny, laugh with it, we'll have our recorders make a blooper reel!" Ghozart said as the rest of the ensemble chucked. "Alright everyone, take your seats and we'll get started." Victor stood at the door waiting for everyone to walk out, before long it was only him and Danny left. "Well my young student, looks like this our make or break as it were."

"...This isn't the part where you tell me 'I've been fooling you all along' and try to get me out of the way through force is it?"

"Like a fourth rate villain? Then why did I bother training you?" Ghozart asked rhetorically. "Come on Danny, haven't I earned at least a bit trust?"

"I'm just asking, you how these things tend to go…" Danny told him. "By I guess can trust you now."

"Excellent, hold still." Before Danny could question him, Vlad grabbed a spray can out and blasted his hair. The young phantom could only struggle in vain as his band teacher grabbed him in a one arm choke hold and forcefully styled his hair. "Annnnnnnnd perfect!"

"Seriously Ghozart!? Isn't the suit enough!?" Danny shouted as he saw his slicked back hair in the mirror.

"A gentleman must always look presentable, especially when they're about to play in con _cert_."

"Okay one, don't say it like that. Two, I think I'm enough of a gentleman with my regular hairstyle. Three, your hair is shaggier than mine is! You look like someone who's insane!"

"Correct. You are the gentleman, I am the insane, genius conductor. Let's go!" And with that, Ghozart grabbed Danny by the arm and forcefully guided him to the auditorium. The curtain was down and the bandmembers had all taken their seats, Danny sighed as he took his seat, saxophone in hand.

"What happened to your hair?" the boy in front, Tyler, asked him.

"Ghozart got to me," Danny said with a very sour expression as the students around him laughed, though it wasn't a mocking matter like he was used to. More like they could see it happening and found it funny.

"Well, I think it looks pretty good on you," Katie, a freshman and fellow saxophone player, said from beside him. Danny gave her a curious look as she blushed and shied away, the Half-Ghost tried to keep the roll of his eyes to himself.

Eventually the curtain was raised and their instructor walked out onto the stage. He gave a theatrical bow forward, though his foot caught on his coat tail and he stumbled forward for a moment, but caught himself.

"And it still happens, I'll need to take them take off a bit more next time," he muttered to himself before addressing the crowd. "Parents, families, friends, welcome to our opening concert at Casper High. Our students worked hard to perform for you today and it does us all proud that you're here to see us. Now our main piece tonight is Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. Like most songs this one contains a long and proud history that I'd like to go into… but I'll get right to performing since I don't believe in free sleep aids."

As the audience had their small chuckle, Victor turned to face his students and they all readied their instruments. Danny saw the first wave for to gain attention, the second to set the tempo, the third to confirm it… but then things went terribly wrong.

 _ **Cue**_ _'YOU WILL REMEMBER MY NAME!'_

Victor shuddered as his concentration was broken. The band gave a small round of toots and violin sounds before listening to the before realizing Ghozart had stopped conducting. Several of the audience member glanced around in confusion at the song being blasted over the loudspeakers.

"So is this part of a blooper reel?" Jack Fenton asked from the audience.

' _What's this pop song doing in the middle of our concert!?'_ Danny thought in irritation before seeing that Ghozart looked like he was turning feral. ' _Oh no! He can't stand pop songs!'_

" _ **Who dares**_ …" Ghozart said full of menace as he took off running down the auditorium esile. Danny watched him go in a moment of worry before putting his instrument down and running after him.

"I'm going to see if he needs any help!" the young Fenton shouted as he passed by everyone. Sam and Jazz were about to get up and follow, but the Fenton parents stopped them.

"Danny's going to be fine, after all he's got his band teacher with him. Let's just wait until they get back and we can enjoy the concert," Maddie Fenton told them. "After all it's not like there's a ghost involved right?"

Jazz and sam gave each other the 'really?' look and resisted the urge to bury their faces in their palms. Sure they were good hunters when they found a ghost, but for all of their experience they could never know what signs to look for when hunting ghosts.

 _ **The Loudspeaker Control Room**_

"And there's my number one hit back on the air! Hopefully I timed it right, it'd be boring if that wasn't during the performance!" Ember McLain said to herself as she held her guitar. "This wasn't exactly what I had in mind for a publicity stunt or a comeback performance I had in mind when I left the ghost zone, but after Phantom interrupted my concert fair's fair and that audience had it coming. Almost wish I could see their-!"

From behind the blue haired rock star, the door slammed open with enough force to make the ghost jump into the air. She was about to turn and tell the person off, but couldn't bring herself to as she stared at him with wide eyes.

"Y-y-you…" Ember could barely stutter, she never would've expected to see _HIM_ here.

" _ **YOU…**_ " Ghozart said darkly, his very tone enough to cause a small rumble. Reaching his arm out he tried to take control of Ember's guitar with his powers, but nothing happened. " _ **What!?**_ "

"This little baby only listens to me! NOT YOU!" Ember shouted as she blasted the instructor back with a blast of ghostly sound from her instrument. Caught completely off guard, Ghozart took the hit full force and was blasted back to where he hit the wall.

"Ghozart!" Danny shouted as he ran forward before noticing the threat. "Ember?"

"Hey there ghost-" she began before noticing Danny's attire. The idol smirked hard as she tried not to laugh. "What on earth are you wearing!?"

"Something I was forced to put on," Danny said with eye narrowed as he turned in his ghost form. "But I think this is a better look for me!"

"Not arguing!" Ember said as she strummed her guitar again and sending out pink fists of ghostly energy.

Danny wove around the attacks, turning incorporeal when he needed to. As Ember sent out another attack he charged up and threw the Ricochet Ball he'd learned from fighting Ghozart. The ball hit and destroyed each of the fists before slamming an ill prepared Ember and exploding. With the teen idol stunned Danny quickly floated to the right position be blasting her with his ghost ray towards the band room. Seeing the incoming wall, Ember went intangible as she paced through the wall.

"Okay, she's in the band room now," Danny said to himself. "My Thermos is in my Saxophone case, so all I need to do is grab that and catch her. Should be easy from-"

Danny felt a powerful rush of wind as the recovered Ghozart rushed by him at high speeds into the band room, the feral look still in his eyes and his hair look like it was turning into ghostly flames. Danny remembered he'd just put Ember in a room where his now feral teacher had access to more than a dozen weapons.

"... Maybe that wasn't the best idea after all."

Inside the bandroom the two ghosts were going toe to toe as Ember's song continued to play over the loudspeakers. Ghozart had taken control of some of his spare instruments and sent sound waves towards Ember, but she guarded with a ghostly shield, before sending out musical lightning at Ghozart, but the conductor used his instruments to intercept the bolts and dispel the attack.

" _ **Why did you do this!?**_ _**Why have you attacked my concert!?**_ "

"To mess with Danny Phantom! But now that I know you're here I wish I'd done MORE!" Ember shouted as the two sent sound attack after sound attack at each other each with the hopes of breaking through. Eventually her music over the loudspeakers stopped as Danny finally figured out how to stop the loudspeakers.

(*End song*)

"Well there's that…" Danny thought as he phased into the room. "Now I just need stop these two from wrecking the place."

Ghozart stopped attacking as he focused his power to his instruments and charged a final blast in all of them. " _ **THIS WILL END IT!**_ "

"YEAH RIGHT!" Ember shouted in response as she charged her ghostly powers. "YOU COULDN'T BEAT ME WITH A THOUSAND INSTRUMENTS DADDY!"

"Wait, DADDY!?" Danny repeated completely bewildered. As the two ghosts sent out powerful blasts at each other, Danny floated in the center and raised a green ghost shield and poured all of his energy into it. Danny then charged his shield as absorbed the blasts and unleashed a powerful burst. "KNOCK IT OFF!"

The attack that resulted was powerful enough to send both ghosts flying back into the band room walls. Without the time to phase through, the two slammed into the walls and sagged to the floor. Danny breathed heavily after the attack before angrily addressing the ghosts, his hair of course had become ruffled again from the fighting.

"Okay I want answers! Ghozart, Ember is your daughter!?"

" _ **I thought she just said that,**_ " Ghozart said, his eyes still angry and his shaggy hair was flowing. Now that Danny saw it, it's reddish-yellow shade almost drew a strange opposite with Ember's light blue flame.

"But how!? Her last name's-!"

" _ **McLain I'm guessing,**_ " Ghozart told him. " _ **Of course it would be, that was my wife Sarah's maiden name.**_ "

"And you died in the fifteenth century so…" Danny looked at Ember. "Exactly how old are you?"

"Tch, rude!" Ember shouted at Danny. "I'm not five hundred years old! I'm a pureborn ghost!"

"A pureborn ghost?" Danny asked. "What's that?"

"A ghost that was born between two other ghosts," Ghozart told him as his eyes went back to normal; his battle rush seemed to be gone, but he still stood on guard. "It's a very rare phenomenon, but it is possible. Ember's currently 14 years of age in human terms."

"14!? She's younger than I am!" Danny shouted, several surprises hitting him fast. He always thought Ember looked a little older than him, not younger.

"Ghosts don't always age the same ways you humans do," Ember told him with her arms crossed. "The age we appear can get pretty chaotic and let's just say we have one hell of a puberty."

"That's concerning being half a ghost," Danny said as he landed on the ground. "Look Ghozart, we still need to get back to the concert. Ember, you've had your fun so can we just call a temporary truce?"

Father and daughter continued to glare at each other before Ember finally sighed. "Fine… you really know how to bring down the mood Danny."

"Perhaps you could learn something from him with that attitude of yours," Ghozart scoffed walking besides his student before remembering something. "Not that it has anything to do with this, whatever happened to that Skulker fellow I heard that you were dating?"

Danny gagged and resisted the urge to vomit in his mouth. Ember and Skulker dating? He didn't know how much worse it could get and that was after he found out Box Ghost and Lunch Lady would have a daughter in the future.

"Broke up with him," Ember informed in a huff. "We didn't even last a month together. He kept going on about how he was 'Ghost Zone's Greatest Hunter' and he barely even noticed I was there half the time."

"Huh, I would've thought it was because you saw how he looked under his armor," Danny commented and Ghozart nodded.

"Under his… what are you talking about?" Ember demanded with slight confusion. Danny and Ghozart gave one another nervous glances before being taking a deep breath to explaining.

 ***Camera Zooms out to a Bird's Eye View of the School***

"WHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!?"

 ***Back in the Band Room***

"You're telling me that's what he looks like!?" Ember demanded as she pointed at Danny's crude drawing on the chalkboard.

"Exactly like this, I even got the size right," Danny told her from next to her. "You really didn't know?"

"That does it! He's going to answer for this!" Ember said as her flames grew in anger causing Danny to take a step back.

"I take it you're heading back to the Ghost Zone then?" Victor commented. "Be sure you avoid any concerts on the way, I'd hate for anyone else to have their evening ruined by you and your so called 'music'."

' _I can't just let him have the last word,'_ Ember thought before glancing at Danny and smirking. "Well I guess I'll be going then. Bye dad."

' _Why does she sound so cheery?'_ Danny thought in confusion before he feeling the small kiss Ember planted on his cheek. The Half Ghost's eyes grew wide as he stared at the smiling Ember in shock.

" _Bye Danny~_ " Ember said in a sadisticly sweet tone before laughing and flying out of the band room. Once she was gone Danny turned to his band teacher, who was staring at him emotionlessly.

"We aren't dating! I mean not that I don't find her attractive! Well not in that way I mean! I mean I didn't want that to happen! Because well-!" Danny rambled his mouth going superspeeds.

"Danny please stop talking, the band room's already in chaos…" Ghozart said with a sigh before turning to his feral state. " _ **I'D HATE TO SEE IT DESTROYED.**_ "

"Shutting up!" Danny said quickly. The two then took half of a minute in order to return the Band Room to its original state before Danny turned back to his full human form. "Well there's that… but uh Ghozart?"

"What it is?" the band teacher asked as he finished moving the percussion section back.

"Ember's mother, Sarah, where exactly is she?"

Victor stopped moving altogether for a moment. When he finally turned to face Danny the young half ghost could see sadness in his eyes.

"Bear this in mind Danny," Ghozart said to him. "Humans and ghosts aren't as different as you think, they both can be affected by the same collection of misfortunes… including death."

Danny instantly felt guilty for asking. He felt like he should've know that there was a reason Ghozart didn't discuss this in front of Ember. "I'm sorry."

"You didn't know… Ghozart said to him. "Hold still." Again Danny's hair was sprayed before he was put into another choke hold by Gozart and had his hair forcefully styled. "There we go, all fixed."

"Will you stop doing that!?" Danny shouted at him.

"Once you start styling yourself," Ghozart told him with a chuckle. "We need to get going, they've waited long enough for us as it stands."

 _TimeSkip_

Danny let out a breath of relief as they finished Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. Several of the parents stood and clapped. The band students all stood themselves before taking their bow, Sam using her camera to take pictures for the newsletter.

After grabbing heading to the band room and putting his instrument away Danny found his family in the hallway.

"There's my little star!" Danny's mother said as he grabbed her son in a bone crushing hug.

"Mom…" Danny said with a small blush, looking around he could at least see that he wasn't the only one getting this kind of attention from a parent.

"I guess you didn't just have the radio on when you were practicing," Jack Fenton noted. "Great work Danny! Better than I did when I was in band!"

"You were in a band?" Jazz asked her father, this being her first time of her dad performing.

"Yep, called ourselves _The Skunks!_ " Jack said proudly. "Of course it didn't really help us with our reviews."

"So where's Sam?" Danny asked, quickly changing the topic. Jazz pointed to where Sam was interviewing Ghozart for the school newsletter.

"No, we didn't plan on having the interruption at the start of my concert," Ghozart told her. "I'm pretty sure a group of troublemakers just wanted to play a joke on us, but I don't feel like addressing anyone about it to find the responsible culprit… Though if they want their Ember McLain CD back, they'll have to come to me to get it."

"So ready to head home?" Maddie Fenton asked the kids.

"Actually Sam, Jazz, and I were going to stick back for a bit before heading to Nasty Burger," Danny told them. "That okay with you?"

"Well, I guess since it's not a school night…" Jack thought nodding. "Alright go out and celebrate, just don't be out too late."

Once all of the families had finally left, the three took a walk down the hallway.

"So what really happened in the loudspeaker room?" Jazz asked.

"Well for one thing Ember was there, but get this; she's actually Ghozart's daughter!"

"She is?" Sam asked. "So this whole thing was a prank on her old man?"

"Something like that," Danny shook his head. "I didn't need to capture her though, she headed back to the ghost zone on her own with a bit of a score to settle, but I still wasn't expecting her and my band teacher to be related."

"Neither were we, and with how much Ghozart hates pop music this sounds like some form of teen rebellion," Jazz said. "By the way Sam, how's the newsletter looking?"

"Not bad, but certainly not enough,"Sam shook her head. "I managed to get plenty of info, but if I try to spread this out into the newsletter I'll just be rambling the same stuff for too many paragraphs. I don't have anything else to draw a report on and I don't want to have to put Ghozart and Ember's relationship to the public."

"Yeah, that might make things a little complicated," Jazz agreed, sad that Sam had tried so hard. "I wish there was something else we could do."

"BEWARE!" came a familiar voice. The three turned their heads and saw their old annoyance. "I am the Box Ghost! I've taken from your rectangular building the cardboard weapons of destruction and this bubble wrap of constricting from within! I shall use these to bring you to your DOOOOOOOM!"

Danny Fenton, Jazz Fenton, and Sam Manson glanced at the Box Ghost in an awkward silence before smiling at one another. Danny used his hands to mess up his hair back to the way it always was and transformed once again into Danny Phantom while Sam gave Jazz her notepad and took out her camera. The Half-Ghost then rushed towards Box Ghost with a confident smile.

"Make sure you get a good shot of my left!"

 _ **Author's Note: I don't own Danny Phantom or Ember's theme song.**_

 _ **Pop Quiz: Name the three recurring human characters who don't have last names.**_

 _ **Edit: I know Ember's backstory was explained out of the show by one of the creators, but I already have a bit of my own take on how it'll take place. I'm not really including anything outside of the show as canon.**_

 _ **Raise your hand if you're like me and didn't know that the song had any actual lyrics to it. It's a bit of a more emotional song than I remember and I'll be sure to address it in later chapters.**_

 _ **I wasn't expecting the second chapter to be so long, but I felt like I had a lot of stuff worth addressing in here. I had fun with it none the less. And now to respond to the reviews.**_

 _Sterlithestral:_ Thanks for a nice and long review. I was bitter with Phantom Planet myself, so this is my own version of the story. I'm going to try to address a lot of the story elements that the show had lined up, but never got to addressing because of the show's early ending. Heck, Valerie was about to rebel against Plasmius, but she's rarely seen in Phantom Planet. Dan coming back is also something that was closely hinted at, so I just took that to its logical conclusion. Ghozart's going to be an important part of the series, but I don't want to make him TOO important, he is an OC after all. Thanks again for the review and enjoy this chapter.

 _Fluffle Puff_ : Well here's your update and it's a long one. Take your time and enjoy it.

 _Paladin9800_ : Including Valerie might take a bit of work, but we already have one alliance and a new power right off the bat. Get ready for the ride.

 _ **Thanks for reading I'll see you all next chapter! Ciao!**_


	3. The Cunning Vlad Masters

_**The Cunning Vlad Masters**_

 _Masters Mansion, Amity Park_

 _10:47 PM October 7th, 2018_

"Well that was a good Sunday evening dinner with the Green Bay Packer's Board of Directors, though I still don't understand why they won't give me the team. I offer them Five Billion dollars and they refuse me!" Vlad Masters groaned, his spirits temporarily down while he entered his mansion after his flight home. He shut the door behind him before giving an evil smile. "But now I suppose it's time that I get to the real purpose of my day; refining my plot to conquer this world."

Turning into his demon like ghost form, Vlad Plasmius turning intangible, Plasmius made his way down to the lower levels of his mansion, his laboratory. As he arrived at the lowest levels, his AI holographic program based on Maddie Fenton appeared.

"Welcome back sweetie," the program said to him sweetly. To Plasmius it wasn't much, but it'd manage as a substitute until he was able to acquire the real woman. "Anything I can get started for you?"

"No my dear, though I need an update on the cloning project, how much of the data did we manage to salvage this last month?"

"Oh, sorry hon, we barely managed to get five percent, most of it was lost when the lab was destroyed. Have you been working out?" Of course as his program it always came with a complete engine of compliments.

"Not really, but enough of that for now. What's our status on the only surviving clone, Danielle Phantom?"

"She's still off our radar, we haven't found any trace of her and the vultures are currently looking all over the east coast, but they haven't found anything yet."

"I'm shocked, shocked I tell you," Vlad said, his tone heavy with sarcasm. He knew how abysmal his vultures were at finding people; they'd have never found Jack if Danny hadn't mistakenly lead them to him. "Do we still have the combat data?"

"Only fragments sweetheart, though recently we've made a bit of a discovery by hacking into some of the town's security camera records." Vlad watched the holographic screens as the came up depicting Danny Fenton as he went about his normal life, at first Vlad didn't see the significance, but eventually he saw who Danny always was with.

"So he's spent time with Miss Gray," Vlad noted. Checking the date of the recordings it seemed that the date for these videos were close to one another. "And they've dated… interesting, I'll have to bear that in mind next time I-"

Red alarms started flashing and an emergency siren was activated, signifying a ghost had broken in. Staying in his ghost form, Vlad quickly glanced around him. "Computer where is the intruder!? Give me a location now!"

"We've located it! Be careful Vladikins! It's in this room!"

"How did it get through my defenses!?" Vlad demanded at the program. "I've invested over a million to reinforce my security and the first ghost-!"

" _You should have upheld your end of the deal,_ " Vlad heard from behind him. Before he could turn to face the voice, he felt himself get impaled in the back.

 _Location: ?_

Vlad groaned as he slowly emerged into consciousness before realizing two very important details about his current situation. One, he'd reverted back to his human form and there wasn't a giant hole in his chest. Two, his surroundings were completely black; he was shrouded in darkness.

' _Where am I?_ ' Vlad thought to himself as he slowly stood. "I was in my office before I…" He scratched his chin as he thought hard to himself and tried to regain his bearings. He was stabbed from behind, but who had done it? A sudden scream rang out, one that he'd know anywhere. "Maddie!?"

Running towards where he heard the scream he indeed saw his old college crush, and she was lying on the floor in horror as a giant white caped ghost towered over her, he couldn't see the details of the attacker because of it's back facing him, but he knew that he had to stop this thing, even if it meant giving up his identity.

"Get away from her you monster!" he shouted before willing himself to transform back into his ghost form, but nothing happened. "What?" he tried again willing himself harder. "NO! Why can't I transform!?"

"Vlad! Help me!" Maddie cried to him. The monster turned his head to face Vlad Masters and the billionair caught his breath. The monster was HIM, or rather how he looked when he transformed in a ghost. It looked at Vlad with a nasty sneer before blasting Maddie in the chest with a ghost ray. Vlad watched in horror as she screamed once and that was it… her last moment.

"NO!" he screamed as he rushed towards limp body of Maddie, the ghost disappearing as he ran. He knelt down and gently cradled her in his arms, tears falling from his eyes. "Madeline wake up! Maddie please! You can't have died! YOU CAN'T!"

"This is your fault," he heard a cold voice say behind him. There was Jack Fenton looking angrier than Vlad had ever seen him. "My wife is dead because of you!"

"Jack," Vlad began, gasping as Madie seemed to dissolve in his arm. "Wait… Please, I didn't-"

"I trusted you and you were nothing but a deceiving monster all this time," Jack said with a glare as he equipped one of his _Ghost Hunting_ weapons but this weapon was different; it was a much more sinister looking pistol. He pointed it at Vlad. "Now I wish that accident in college had killed you; maybe Maddie would be alive if you weren't."

The weapon's ray hit Vlad square in the chest, having him experience pain leagues beyond whatever he thought was possible. He was about to fall to an unconscious state before a bright light flashed and he found himself back in his lab.

Masters breathed heavily from what had just happened, his face covered in sweat. That was a horrible vision… no, a nightmare. A nightmare that could be caused by the sword of only one individual.

" _Welcome back,_ " the looming form of the Fright Knight said as it towered over him.

"Monster…" Vlad growled before preparing to transform. Before he could, the Fright Knight's sword, _The Soul Shredder_ , found its way under his neck.

" _Don't even think of it, unless you want to get sent back there,_ " the Fright Night told him. " _I've been far too lenient with the nightmares I've shown with this blade, but I'll no longer hold back. From now on the only visions shown will be the soul's ultimate fear._ "

"Are you just here to threaten me?" Vlad glared at him. The Maddie program stood to the side and Plasmius could see that the turret defenses and other traps in his lab had already been destroyed. "If so, you've certainly made your point. What do you want?"

" _I want what was promised to me. I helped you stop Pariah Dark, I gave you the suit that defeated him, I even allowed you to take the Crown of Fire, now I am here to collect. WHERE is the Crystal of Darkness?_ "

"I don't know!" Vlad shouted. "No ghost I've managed to interrogate has even heard of it and I've found the lead you spoke of, but the ghosts inside are far too powerful for me to handle!"

" _That is why I allowed you to keep the suit, that should make you powerful enough to explore that realm!_ "

"But I've only managed to make one suit that could allow me to defend myself, but the stress it puts on my body could kill me!" Vlad yelled.

" _Then I suggest you fix that issue before I force you to wear the suit, I'm getting tired of these excuses and the schemes that distract you,_ " the Fright Knight told him as he finally drew back his sword. " _Find the location, I expect results on the day I am of greatest power._ "

"On Halloween then," Vlad said as he stood. "See yourself out then and don't try to to destroy my mansion any worse than you already have. I'll have your crystal located when the time comes."

" _You had better,_ " Fright Knight told him. " _I let you out of that nightmare this time, next time it will be eternal._ " And with that the Knight left to where his mount waited for its master outside.

"Someone's gotten cocky with the so-called Ghost King locked up," Vlad said in a very annoyed manner. "If he hadn't caught me unprepared I would've blasted him back into the Ghost Zone from here." ' _But what was that nightmare, seeing Maddie with Jack would be horrible enough, but killing her with my own powers? And why would I be bothered if Jack was mad at me? He a bumbling oaf for crying out loud!'_

Uneasily deciding he'd leave that nightmare alone for now, Masters decided to focus his effort on not having to see it a second time. "Computer, what's the status on my new Omega model suit I've reverse engineered?"

"Well-"

"Wait," Vlad said, stopping her as he cringed for a moment and refused to look at the face of his lost, the one he'd seen die by his own powers mere moments ago. "Return to base form."

The program shred its form of Maddie Fenton, now reverting to a form of white static and monotone voice.

"Master, the suit's condition is still unstable, but you might be able to put use a test subject to engineer a way to perfect the nerve systems. The problem lies in the after effects, using it for as little as ten minutes could be fatal for anyone besides you or Danny Phantom. The best thing to study I'm afraid, will be a corpse."

"Who could I possibly use? There's no one with the skills who would trust me enough except Jack Fenton and he's much too large!" Vlad shouted, before realizing he very did have a person in question. Smiling evilly he looked at the monitor still playing the videos of Danny with Valerie. "Perhaps it's time that I offered Ms. Gray an upgraded suit. After all, faulty equipment could be the death of her. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"That was terrible master," the default program said to him. "Your sense of evil humor leaves much to be desired."

"Annnnnd I'm over it; go back to being Maddie," Vlad commanded and the programmed fizzed back to its more commonly used state.

"Funny as always Vladikins!" Holo-Maddie said before giving a girlish giggle at Vlad's approving smile.

 _Casper High Cafeteria_

 _12: 15 PM October 8th, 2018_

Valerie Gray sighed to herself as she got in the end of the line at the school cafeteria. Lunch; to most students it was always a great part of the day, time to spend a much needed break out of classes, gossip, and generally screw around. To her though, classes were her break from lunch, what with the company she'd had to sit with this past month, unable to get a word in when she wanted out of an event or to stop the bullying. Now her interpretation of a 'cool kid' was anyone who made her feel like a cold corpse.

"They serving meatloaf today?"

Then again it made her enjoy the time she could spend with her real friends all the more. Even hearing Danny ask her a question causally with the welcoming smile of his as he walked into line behind her made her feel happier than whenever she was at whatever party Dash or Paulina coaxed into going to.

"I thought you were trying to go vegetarian," Valerie said with a smirk.

"I've been going _more_ vegetarian, not all the way. I still need my meat," Danny told her with his own smirk. "So are they?"

"Yeah, that and mashed potatoes today," Val told him as she peered down the line. "Where are Sam and Tucker?"

"Sitting at the table already, I got held back last class after I had an accident with my binder," Danny said with a shrug. "So how've you been?"

"I've been doing alright," Valerie tried to tell him. "I heard you had a concert on Friday, sorry I wasn't able to make it."

"Hey, no big deal I figured you had stuff going on, so what'd you do instead?"

"I…" Valerie wanted to stay that she'd been busy with work so she wouldn't hurt Danny's feeling, but then again she never felt like lying to him. "I got dragged into going to a _Dumpty Humpty_ concert with Dash and Paulina. Don't get me wrong it was a good concert, but they got me a ticket without asking, picked me up in a rush, and just headed off after letting my dad know."

"Almost sounds like they've been kidnapping you for a month," Danny said as the line slowly moved forward.

"It's a lame excuse, but that's more or less what's been happening," Valerie told him. "I dunno, but all of a sudden they think that it's important for me to come back to hanging out with them for some sort of code."

"Well regardless of what they think of you, there's always a spot open for you at our table," Danny offered, giving Val a warm smile as she gave him a smile back.

"Think fast Fen-Terrible!" Danny heard the school bully yell before he turned and got pelted in the face with a large glob of potatoes.

"Try to do a nice thing and get pelted by twice used and likely expired school potatoes. How does that karma work out?" Danny asked in annoyance as he tried to wipe his face off using his shirt collar. "Did I get it all Val?" Glancing upwards he saw that she seemed to have left the line. "...Valerie?"

"What is your problem?" Val demanded as she walked up to the 'popular' table and pointed her index finger dead center in Dash's face.

"It looked like that uncool twerp was bothering you so I stepped in, what's the big deal?" Dash said, giving his confident grin. Danny noticed that most of the lunch room was now silent, many people looking as the show unfolded.

"The big deal is that you just threw food at my friend!" Valerie shouted.

"Friend?" she heard Paulina say with a mocking giggle. "Him? He's still your friend? Does that mean you friends with the little gloomy girl and the techno loser too?"

"Tucker hold me back."

"Sam? Whoa, calm down! Mind your elbows! Aren't you supposed to be non-violent!?"

Glancing from where Danny stood in line to where Sam was trying to break out of Tucker's grip as he tried to keep her from killing everyone at Dash's table, to the smug grin that her 'friends' were giving her, Valerie figured better a month late than never.

"Yes they are my friends, and for the record they're better friends than you ever were, even after how mean I was to them!" Valerie shouted at him and when Dash tried to interrupt, she spoke before him. "And for the record Dash Baxter, I think Danny Fen _ton_ is a hundred times cooler than you'll ever be!"

With the last piece of her rant said, Val walked over to the table that Tucker and Sam were sitting at and seated herself. Most of the average students were looking on in silence (except for Nathan who was sobbing something about Valerie 'abandoning him'), Sam seemed to have stopped struggling and sat down with Tucker, Paulina was glaring daggers, Dash couldn't seem to comprehend what was just said, and Danny was staring in awe.

"Me, cooler than Dash Baxter? The star quarterback and current heartthrob of the school?" Danny repeated. "From where I'm standing she just doomed her social life."

"From where I'm standing you're not being as cool as she says when you're holding up the line," the cafeteria lady said curtly to him from behind the counter. "Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes?"

"I'm buying for her, so make it two please," Danny asked. "And can I switch out my mashed potatoes for salad? This batch doesn't really agree with me."

"Everyone's a critic."

After getting the food Danny headed over and sat down at his table. Val gave him a kind smile and the group resumed eating.

"So… did you really mean that?" Danny decided to bring up, though he felt more than a little uncomfortable.

"Every word," Valerie told him. "Besides, it's not like Dash hasn't been enough of a jerk since he's come to this school. He's had this coming to him for a while."

"Plus, a hundred times cooler than Dash? Not exactly a high bar my friend," Tuck said in his usual charmer manor. "Anyways, just heard about the concert from Sam, sounded pretty hectic with the whole… music change."

"Eh, it wasn't that bad," Danny shrugged, though he had to remind himself not to talk about Ember since Valerie was there. "We managed to get the concert started about ten minutes late and Ghozart kept his job with only two students leaving, so no big deal… how's the paper coming out?"

"It's supposed to be released on Wednesday," Sam began before bringing her head down and inching it closer to the table so that she could whisper to everyone. "But I'm going to release it tomorrow before Paulina can look at it, try to get a jump on her."

"She's going to hate that," Val reminded before smiling. "Go for it." A sudden buzzing sound came from her handbag and Valerie picked up her phone before checking the caller ID. "Sorry guys, this is from work, I gotta take this." She then grabbed her lunch tray and her cell phone.

"Nasty Burger has employee call in now?" Tucker noted. "Who knew?"

"I'm still surprised she's still working there if she managed to get back into a good house," Danny said.

Once Valerie managed to make it to a nice and private location on the side of the school grounds she finally picked up her phone.

"Mr. Masters?"

"Ah, Miss Gray! How have you been? It's been quite some time since we've seen each other. I hope I didn't call you during classes, but I have a special gift that I'd like to give you. Do you think you could meet me down in the docking district?"

"Now?" Val asked a little confused. "I'm still taking care of classes Mr. Masters, can we reschedule?"

"Oh certainly certainly, don't want to have to pull you out of classes now do we?" Vlad said with a somewhat jolly tone on the other end of the line. "Can you meet me at say… seven o'clock?"

"Seven works, I'll see you then Mr. Masters," the young ghost hunter said with a determined smile.

 _Gray Residence_

 _6:39 PM_

Valerie had just managed to finish her homework after another busy day of school, Drama club, and dinner with her father. Opening her window and placing her cyber board outside she began her playlist on her computer so that her father would think that she was in her room while she was out. Just as she was about to step outside she heard a cough and saw her father waiting for her in the hallway with his arms crossed.

"Dad! Haven't you heard of knocking!?" Valerie demanded.

"Let's just say I had a bit of a hunch and I was right. Care to explain where you're going?"

"Uh… just to Dash's, he's holding a party," Valerie told her father, trying not to give herself away.

"Valerie, I see your hoverboard outside and I doubt that you want to see Dash, especially after you told me about telling him and the others off over dinner. I'm not an idiot."

' _Busted,'_ Valerie thought as her father sighed.

"Take a seat, I think it's time we had a bit of a talk." He didn't seem angry at her, a little disappointed sure, but not angry. "You know I worry about you?"

"Isn't that your job as a dad?" Valerie asked.

"If it paid I'd be getting quite a bit of overtime," her father said. "But in all seriousness, you were only two when we lost your mom in that fire. I was afraid what might happen to you, how was I going to raise a kid as a single father, how was I going to be sure that you were raised right? It's taken us both quite a bit of work to get here and even more to recover after losing my reputation. I just want to know, why do you keep insisting on doing this?"

"Because it's who I am," Val said. "You remember what I was like before I began ghost hunting? I was just a snooty little girl who wanted all the material possessions she could get with your money. Now I'm helping the city by protecting ghosts, and don't get started on leaving it to that Danny Phantom, I still don't trust him… much."

"Much?" her father continued quizzically.

"He's been a pain in the butt ever since I've met him, but there was one important thing he turned out to be right on," Val said with her eyes narrowed. "But I can't leave it all to him, I've got people counting on me and I'm not the type to just sit by and watch."

"No, you're a fighter, just like your mother," Mr. Gray said with a small look of sadness before standing. "Wait here a moment."

After walking into his study and grabbing something, her father returned with a large brown sack and handed it to her. Valerie figured it was something that her mother had kept when she was still alive or an old family photo, something to convince her to stop. But instead she found a small collection of metal spheres, each about the size of her fist.

"Dad, what are these?"

"I might not be as good as the Fentons, but they aren't the only ones that can make ghost hunting devices. Short version; they're flash and sound bombs that have been heavily modified so that they only work on ghosts. Be careful though, I've only managed to test them once, but it should stun a ghost for a least a minute."

"But why are you giving them to me?" Val asked receiving a kind smile from her father.

"I know that I can't stop you, but that doesn't mean I can't try to do a little something to make sure you come home safe," her dad said with a smile. "And above all else, I'm proud of you for doing what you think is right."

"Dad…" And with that, father and daughter embraced each other.

"Just make sure I hear from you by eight, otherwise I'm calling the police."

"Deal."

 _Airspace Above Central Amity Park_

 _6:53 PM_

' _This guy's getting annoying,'_ Danny thought to himself in frustration as he turned phased and avoided another volley of missiles. Turning tangible again, he blasted his cyber armor wearing opponent in the chest, but the damage seemed to be only superficial.

"Do you know how long it takes to wax this thing?" Skulker demanded before sending a blast of confining ecto-goop at Danny, but the teen Ghost Hunter dodged it with ease.

"If it's such a hassle to re-wax you shouldn't be bringing it to a fight with someone on their only night off! I'm ticked enough as it is!" Danny shouted. "Seriously, how am I supposed to rest up for a grueling week of school if you and the others keep butting into my life!?"

"Good question, but I've got a better one; How can I not test this new suit out after you were responsible for my last on getting destroyed!?" Skulker shouted before grabbing several round sawblades out of his compartment. "I was already in hot water with Ember after breaking up, but then you had to tell her about my true form! My poor suit didn't stand a chance!" Skulker threw the sawblades with lethal accuracy, but Danny managed to destroy them with a ghost ray before rushing at Skulker for a full frontal attack.

"Well excuse me! I figured you'd have told these things to your fricken' girlfriend!" Danny shouted before sending a fury of punches and kicks at Skuler, which the hunter did his best to avoid or block them. Danny charged one punch, but instead of hitting Skulker with it he used his agility and circled behind him before smashing his fist in the back of his head. "Did the two of you ever actually talk? It's no wonder she dumped you!"

Skulker rushed forward and grabbed Danny's hands and fought to tower over him and Danny struggled to resist. "What are you? A relationship counselor?"

"If I was you probably could have used me huh!?" Danny shouted before using his acquired ghost strength to spin his body and throw Skulker behind him, force the hunter to let him go. Danny was about to follow up with an attack before he noticed who was approaching. "Valerie, dang!"

"The red one?" Skulker questioned as he looked and took notice. "She's upgraded her armor as well I see. Perfect! A three-way battle sounds exactly the kind of thing I need to-!"

"Out of the way!" Valerie shouted as she sped between Danny and Skulker on her board, refusing to even slow down to fire a blast.

"She's not fighting us? Unfortunate," Skulker said, clearly disappointed.

"And she's not even bothering with me? Something's up," Danny agreed before beginning to fly after her. "I'll kick your butt another time Skulker, this looks bad," he called behind him before noticing a blast flying at him and barely managed to dodge it. "HEY!"

"I wouldn't turn your back on me if I were you," Skulker said with a sneer. "This fight isn't over yet and I refuse to let you go when you're giving me such a good one! It's making your pelt worth all that much more! Maybe instead of putting it at the foot of my bed I'll make it into a coat!"

"That's disgusting! Fine! You asked for this!" Danny shouted before firing another ghost ray at Skulker.

The ghost guarded against the attack before grappling Danny's foot with a cable wire. He then quickly retracted the wire, bringing an off guard Danny closer to him and smashing his fist into his face, hurting him and sending him sprawling away. As he retracted the cable again, Danny fired a highly concentrated ghost ray that hit Skulker's chest and caused a large dent in his armor before snapping the cable and freeing himself.

Skulker sent out a barrage of missiles, ectoplasma, and tossed in a few buzz saws for good measure, but Danny weaved around and avoided the attack, turning in tangible when he needed.

"You've gotten faster! But don't think that will save you here!" Skulker shouted before firing a net that caught Danny, even while he was intangible. "That should hold you!"

"Fat chance!" Danny shouted, blasting a burst from around his entire body, destroying the net he was kept in, despite the electric shocks he received. Skulker transformed his arm into a sword, but Danny fired a freezing blast that encased it in ice. As the cyber suited warrior stared at the frozen weapon, he shot a ghost ray at it and caused the appendage to shatter.

"That's going to take me hours to repair!" Skulker shouted before seeing that Danny was coming for a full frontal attack. He braced himself for the attack, but then Danny turned intangible and grabbed Skulker's true form from inside the suit. The armor stayed floating, but didn't move with its owner removed.

"Well this should take you a few days," Danny said, blasting the suit in the chest and destroyed it while causing it to fly into a passing by recycling truck.

"You fool!" came Skulker's squeaky voice from his true form, which Danny held in his fist. "You haven't seen the last of me! I'll come back with an even better suit and next time you'll see what it means to be on the list of Ghost Zone's greatest hunter!"

"Hey Skulker," Danny said with a coy smile. "You remember the Purpleback Gorilla, Delilah? She's back in Amity Park Zoo, and she's even got a husband and kids now."

"...You wouldn't," Skulker said as his eyes grew wide with fear, remembering what the monster had done to one of his suits.

"No," Danny said before taking out his Fenton Thermos and using it to contain Skulker. "Just thought I'd let you know." Clipping the Thermos back on his belt Danny turned in the direction Valerie had gone off. "Now to find out what else is going on tonight."

 _Anmity Harbor_

 _6:59 PM_

Vlad Master's stood at Pier Eight where he'd promised to meet Valerie, he had his suit on the pier behind him covered in a tan tarp, and the pier was empty (he'd anonymously bribed the guards to take the night off). Currently he was glancing at his digital watch, seeing as it counted to 7 PM.

"And… three, two, one."

"Mister Masters," Val said as she quickly sped up to him on her hoverboard before landing on the ground in front of him.

"Exactly on time, I always appreciate it when people are punctual," Vlad said with a smile before taking the cover off and revealing the dark grey suit beneath. "Thank you for coming on such short notice, this is what I was hoping to present to you."

"Isn't that the armor from when we fought the Ghost King?" Valerie asked. "I always wondered what happened to it."

"Oh no my dear, this is simply my own version of the project. Completely perfected, causes no backlash with unlimited output of the greatest ghost detaining weapons, and capable of amazing speeds. In the right hands, this suit would be unstoppable. I need someone talented to pilot this for me, and after saving my life from Plasmius I knew you were the young lady for the job." Vlad's smile went from friendly to completely confident. "So what do you say?"

"What do I say?" Valerie asked before holding her board like a rifle and firing it, destroying the inactive suit. Vlad used his arms to shield his face from the explosion, he glared at Valerie in hatred. "I don't think it's my style, _Vlad Plasmius_."

"YOU FOOL!" Vlad shouted as he transformed with a dark ring forming around him. "THAT WAS MY ONLY SUIT!"

"Please work!" Valerie shouted as she charged and threw the sound grenade. At first she didn't think it had worked since it only seemed to give off a bit of a green glow and a small whistle, but then she saw Vlad gripping his ears and painfully forcing his eyes shut.

"Agh! What was that!?" Vlad demanded.

"A little something I got on the side!" Val shouted before blasting him in the chest with her board rifle. Plasmius grunted as he was blasted back into the wall and Valerie held him there with a continuous blast. "You know, I should've figured it out sooner! The ring you gave me was the one the ghost king was after, sending me after Dani Phantom when you she was on the run from you, I thought it had to be a coincidence since you gave me the suit in the first place, but no I know what you really are!"

"What I really am?" Vlad said before opening his terrible red eyes and sending out a shockwave that disrupted the blast and sent Valerie flying off her feet. "Oh you have no idea what you've stepped into, _little girl_."

Being sent back in midair, Valerie landed on her board and quickly brought out two ghost hunting handguns and fired them at Masters. Vlad raised a shield that absorbed the blasts with ease. Valerie tried throwing a stun grenade at him, but Plasmius quickly fired a ghost ray from his palm and destroyed the device before firing another blast at his opponent. Valerie turned her board upwards and had the bottom part that the shot that was protected with a barrier. Keepin the board as it was Valerie dove at Plasmius to ram him, but the ghost turned intangible to avoid it. As Valerie swerved around for a second attack, Vlad expertly grabbed the board from underneath her, causing the ghost hunter to go flying off.

"Please, just what are you trying to accomplish here?" Vlad said with his usual cocky smile as he held on tightly to the board. "Did you actually think you could beat me when I was the one who helped you start ghost hunting in the first place? You're just a second rate ghost hunter with delusions of grandeur!"

"And you're an unbearable jerk!" Plasmius heard before he was hit in the chest with a blue ray, freezing his torso. Stumbling back for a moment, he noticed Danny flying towards him at high speeds the instant before he smashed into his chest, causing the ice to shatter and sending him flying back into a wall while losing his grip on the board and causing it flip into the air.

"Should have figured this had something to do with Vlad," Danny muttered as he caught the board before tossing it back to Valerie. "Need a hand?"

"Just this once, but don't think that this makes us friends," the armored Ghost Hunter said with a glare as she got back on her board.

"Oh, so you two are going to try and gain up on me?" Vlad said with a sneer before creating three clones of himself. "Tell me child, how many clones can you create now? Or can you even make one?"

"Quality over quantity Plasmius!" Danny shouted as he charged forward and began fighting off the three clones himself, leaving Valerie with the original. Danny quickly blasted at one of them with a ray, but the clone shielded itself while the second one sent out a ray attack of its own which Danny avoided before guarding against the punch the third clone gave at him and threw him at the other two. The clones didn't dissolve and continued to attack him.

Meanwhile Valerie was firing her handguns repeatedly as she sailed around the real Plasmius, but Danny's arch nemesis blocked the attack with a barrier. Changing up her technique, she fired two shots to keep Vlad defending with his barrier before suddenly accelerating with her board with enough force to shatter though the barrier and ram into Plasmius, giving her a chance to get a free shot in.

"How annoying," Vlad muttered before glancing over his shoulder and seeing his three clones weren't able to overwhelm Danny. The young Phantom was dodging the attacks and countering them with ease. It didn't seem to matter that it was three on one, Danny was barely taking a hit. "Where did you get that power?"

"While you've been sitting on your butt all day I've been training!" Danny shouted before charging a ricochet ball and throwing it at the clones. The attack smashed and reflected into all of the clones and destroyed them before flying into the original and exploding. Danny was about to take on the real Vlad, but he quickly sent out another set of three clones. "What's the matter?! Won't fight me yourself?!"

"He's mine anyways!" Valerie shouted as she changed her two handguns out for a ghost hunting rifle. She fired another powerful blast at Vlad and caused him to raise his barrier while she attempted to ram him, but Vlad had wised up to the trick and turned intangible as she went through him before turning and blasting Valerie in the back with two ghost rays.

"That was really the best you had?" Vlad mocked with glowing green hands pointed at her as she tried to get up. "You actually thought that tactic would work a second time?"

"It's working from where I am," Valerie smirk as she continued to use her suit to control her board. Plasmius noticed it coming from behind him far too late, stuck in the center of its electrified pincer he felt the electricity course through his body and shouted in pain. Valerie quickly managed to turn herself over and fired a single shot with her rifle that struck him directly in the face and sent him flying. Vlad grunted as he hit the ground with a thud, his wounds weren't terrible but he was losing his focus and his clones were starting to fade as he struggled to get up.

"It's over Vlad Plasmius," Valerie informed with ire as she pointed her high powered ghost hunting rifle at him. "Now I can finally expose you for what you really are."

' _I can't let this end here,_ ' Vlad thought to himself as he painfully tried to raise himself. ' _There has to be something I can still do.'_ Noticing Danny still fighting his clones, Vlad remembered something rather important and had the strategy he needed; it was risky, but he had no other choice. "Are you sure I'm the only one you should be exposing of their crimes tonight?"

"What are you talking about? Who else is there?" Valerie demanded, keeping her rifle on the ghost in front of her.

"Danny Phantom's done SO much more to betray your trust, playing with a young lady's heart is inexcusable," Vlad said, giving a confident smirk. Danny could hear what was being said, but as he tried to interject he was blasted in the chest by one of the clones.

"Playing with my heart? I don't care a thing about him!" Valerie shouted as she charged her rifle.

"No? Then what about that week you spent with each other, the time you could've been considered romantically involved. Either of you were going to admit your personal feelings, but you were interrupted time and time again and eventually separated so you could protect him from the very ghosts he was fighting. I'd call that a true heartbreak and I speak from personal experience, believe me."

"That wasn't Danny Phantom you stalker! That was Danny-!" Sadly, that was when Valerie realized what Plasmius was getting at. She glanced at where Danny had gotten up, the clear look of guilt in his eyes as the clones behind him finally faded. "-Fenton... no..."

That moment was all Plasmius needed, blasting both of his foes back with ghost rays he stunned them for long enough to turn incorporeal and escape at high speeds. ' _The rest of this is on Daniel; if he doesn't convince the girl to keep both of our identities a secret I'm ruined, but he seems to have a strange way with people. Regardless, this is a gamble I shouldn't have had to make here.'_

Back on the pier, Danny groaned as he slowly stood after Vlad's last attack. The headache that had given him felt bad, but noticing the standing form of an armored Valerie staring daggers at him he knew that the pain his head was feeling was the least of his worries.

Valerie took her already charged rifle and pointed it at him. "Start. Talking. NOW." she commanded with tear filled eyes.

' _Great, Vlad gets away and I'm stuck to face the music,'_ Danny thought glumly as he allowed himself to revert back to human form. "I wanted to tell you earlier, but it looks like Vlad beat me to it."

"How long has this been going on?" Valerie demanded.

"A little over a year now," Danny told admitted. "And I know I'm way too late on this, but I'm sorry for ruining your life and your dad's job."

"And you think sorry cuts it?" Valerie asked, she was starting to become enraged. "Danny, you've kept this a secret from me for a year. What about when we were dating? Did you think it wasn't important to tell me then?!"

"No…" Danny admitted. "I mean don't get me wrong, that week was great, it's just… things went by really fast. I'm not asking for a second chance, I know I already burned that bridge, but you can't tell anyone about me or Vlad, even if they just find out about him he'll tell everyone my secret too."

"Why can't you tell them then?" Valerie asked, now becoming confused. "Danny, don't you know what would happen if you were actually the local ghost boy, you'd be a hero!"

"It kinda already happened once before and I had to wipe everyone's memories of it," Danny admitted, scratching the back of his head. "And they did start treating me like a hero, but… it just didn't feel right. I mean all of a sudden I have Paulina saying that she wants to be Mrs. Fenton, Dash starting to treat me like I'm his best friend, and I've suddenly got a crowd of fans who earlier wouldn't give me the time of day. I didn't want it."

"You hated being treated like a hero?" Val asked, finally starting to lower her rifle. "But there has to be someone who knows about you, right?"

"Besides the ghosts I fight against, the only three people that know are Sam, Tucker, and my sister. That's it."

"Not even your parents?"

Danny laughed. "The famous ghost hunting Fentons? Yeah, they'd take it well. 'Hey mom and dad, look at me! I screwed up your ghost portal and now I'm a half ghost!' I swear, every new ghost hunting tool they come up with is enough to send a shiver down my spine."

"I was just asking," Val said with a sigh before glancing at her rifle. "Dang it, why do you make it so hard for me to hate you?"

"Wish I knew, maybe then I'd get some more leeway with my teachers," Danny joked before turning serious again. "I'm sorry for lying to you and what you've had to go through."

"You better be, but I guess in a weird way I wouldn't be a Ghost Hunter if it weren't for you; As crazy as it is I absolutely love this life… Apology accepted Danny Fenton." He smiled and let himself relax, but then Valerie retrained her rifle on him. "But I still want a free shot."

"Wait, whAHAHAHHAHAAT!?" Danny screamed as he was blasted in the chest by the ghost hunting rifle. She'd turned down the power because she'd forgiven him, but getting blasted into a wall still hurt like crap. "Okay *wheeze* …earned that..."

"Yeah, you did," she said before putting the rifle away. "So are we going to head home now?"

"Yeah, I've got an ten o'clock curfew and my parents are never happy when I miss it. But first I'm gonna grab something to eat; a _Mega Meaty_ always sounds really good after a fight and after the day we've had I think I've earned a nice, greasy burger."

"That actually sounds really good," Val said as she got on her board, but then smirked as an idea developed in her mind. "Hey Danny, bet you can't keep up with me."

"Pretty sure I can go faster than that flimsy board of yours," Danny said with a determined smile as he transformed. "Last one to _Nasty Burger_ buys?"

"Just don't go easy on me!" Valerie shouted before taking off on her board at high speed.

"Wouldn't dream of it!" Danny called before chasing after her into the moonlit sky.

 _Master's Manor_

 _8:39 PM_

Vlad considered himself quite the fortunate soul when it came to having ghost powers, especially when it meant getting him out of trouble. If there was a sudden lack of money he'd phase through a couple of walls, steal a few designs, and he'd easily get another few billion by selling them as his own original idea. Being accused of a crime? Dealt even quicker with a few minutes of overshadowing the accuser and an odd activity here or there and any petty thing he'd been blamed of would be quickly forgotten. But this was one of those times where he couldn't just rely on just his powers, this time he had a serious problem.

The suit had been completely destroyed, and while he'd attempt to salvage what he could in the morning, he'd have to rebuild the suit almost entirely, and that would take time, time he was quickly running out of. With his wounds healing, Vlad was currently in his lobby looking over his collection of Green Bay Gear he'd acquired over the years. This was always a good place to think, and after the evening he'd had there was certainly much to take into account.

' _The suit itself might actually be the least of my worries,'_ Vlad thought to himself sadly as he looked at one of the cheesehead hats he owned. ' _I wanted to gain the Fright Knight's favor, but now it seems I might have to endure him as yet another enemy. I suppose I could contend for with his powers for some time, but only a single slip up and I'd be trapped in an eternal nightmare.'_

Moving on in his glass cased exhibit, he now observed one of his black and white portraits of Don Hutson, a Packers player from a much earlier age of the sport.

' _I've lost Valerie Gray as well, she might have only been a pawn to use, but she was an important one. She will most likely harbor a grudge against me now and her conviction may cause me more than a little trouble. At least Danny seems to have talked her out of exposing me, I'd have been swarmed with Ghost Hunters by now otherwise.'_

Vlad then moved on to his trophy collection, these might have been mere replicas of the actual Super Bowl and MVP trophies awarded, but they were extremely lifelike which made them rare collectors items and of course Vlad had to have them.

' _But my main concern isn't the suit, Valerie Gray, or even the Fright Knight, it's Daniel Fenton. How could he have overpowered me? I may have needed to fight Miss Gray as well, but it's possible he could have ended me even without my her help. How much longer can I manipulate him? How much has his powers actually grown… Am I being surpassed?'_

Vlad was about to move on, but he caught sight of his own reflection in the glass casing and paused. He'd seen himself earlier that morning in the mirror when he was getting ready for a day running the city as its mayor and he'd thought he'd looked the same as he always did; styled, well-dressed, but most importantly confident. Now it was like seeing a different man; now his hair was disheveled, his suit appeared to be torn in several places, and he seemed to weighed heavily by insecurity.

' _While you've been sitting on your butt all day I've been training!'_ Danny had taunted.

"Training…" Vlad spoke aloud before chuckling. "I've been looking at this the wrong way, why should I invest my time in building some double-edged power suit when my true power still remains untapped?" His eyes shone red as his confident smile returned in full. "How much could I improve if I simply dedicated three weeks to training?"

 _ **Pop Quiz: Name three recurring humans that don't have last names.**_

 _ **Author's Note: I don't own Danny Phantom. Many characters of this story are not mine. I only write the plots. I'll be addressing quite a few thing in this note including some reviews, so it might be worth reading.**_

 _ **Alright, time to address the elephant in the room from the last chapter; I know Ember's origin story was given by one of the creators though it was never seen in the show, but show itself is what I'm going to consider the official canon. That other story of Ember's wasn't bad, but since we didn't see it in the show I've got another game plan with her family.**_

 _ **Now for this chapter. Another ally joins the fray. I was unsure if I should have Valerie's discovery this early on, but I wasn't exactly fond of my other way of having her discover Danny's identity so this made much more sense.**_

 _ **While I'll address the full review that asked this, I'm still a little unsure of when I'm going to have Danny's birthday. We're never given a date or a birthday episode, but I have a few plot points to work off of. First, every opening song states that he was fourteen when he got turned and the series seems to start at about a month or two into the school year.**_

 _ **Next, it's revealed that he's sixteen at the end of the series, and while Phantom Planet seemed to have a small time skip, it seemed to start at the end of summer break (hence where I had this story take place) and ended a short time later, assumedly before the end of the year. So his birthday would have to take place sometime between the mid-October mid-December range.**_

 _ **FYI, 2018 was just a random year I chose to make this seem a LITTLE futuristic (hence why we don't have actual Ghost Hunting IRL)**_

 _ **If you've got a birthday date that you think works or have an argument to my theory, let me know in the reviews. I'll address the ones I got from last chapter here.**_

 _Hellbreaker:_ That's a fair opinion, but I've been taking a look over Danny's character and this just seemed like an interesting route to go. I'm not having a harem be an explicit part of the story, mostly it'll be hinted at with a couple of romantic interactions from time to time.

 _Paladin9800_ : Glad to see I have at least one supporter for my idea of Victor Von Ghozart. And as addressed above Danny might soon be having a birthday, but as for exactly when I don't know. I also have a few plans to bring Youngblood into the story down the line, but we'll see what I decide on.

 _ **Thanks to both of you for reviewing, no clue when I'll have the next chapter up, but stay posted. Ciao!**_


	4. Of Admiration and Chaos

_**Of Admiration and Chaos**_

 _Fenton Household, Amity Park_

 _7:03 AM October 9th, 2018_

For once Danny had managed to get up before his friends arrived so he was currently sitting downstairs having cereal for breakfast while he read his favorite magazine _Astronomer's Monthly_ instead of rushing to get ready. Jazz sat at the table across from her brother, chewing on her fruit slices and reviewing last night's assignment.

"Morning kids!" Jack said cheerfully as he walked upstairs from the basement. "I couldn't sleep a wink last night. I've been working on this project so that I can replace that _Power Suit_ we lost a while back. Once I complete it we'll be able to beat back ghosts at no risk to the user!"

"Do you really think that's necessary dad?" Jazz asked. "I mean Amity Park's ghost problems have been pretty low as of late. You might want to take a break and try something I dunno, _not_ Ghost related."

"How can you say that?" Jack asked in shock before gritting his teeth and glaring around in suspicious as if there were ghosts in that very room (oddly enough, he was right). "That's just what they want us to think, those slimy ghosts… they're gathering for something, waiting… But Jack Fenton will not be fooled! I'll going to be ready to kick some major ghost butt!" After grabbing some wrapped leftovers Jack returned to the basement to continue his hero work.

"You just had to rile him up," Danny said with a knowing smirk.

"Oh be quiet and listen to some music," Jazz said before switching the radio on which instead went to a local news station.

"- _and we've taken a complete look through our inventory and cargo,_ " an interviewee spoke. " _We even let the police double and triple check it and nothing's gone. What's there to worry about? So there's a little broken pavement, I don't think anybody is sneaking into the harbor just to hit the ground a few times."_

Danny went for the radio dial, but his sister slapped his hand away and glared at him in suspicion. The younger sibling then remembered he'd yet to tell his sister about anything that happened last night, he hadn't told Sam or Tucker either.

" _That was Jeff Goldenberg, owner of Amity Park's harbor and storage center,"_ a male announcer said over the radio. " _While it's unclear what exactly happened, this reporter thinks it may have a connection to Danny Phantom and his crusade to keep Amity Park safe against the mostly unseen ghost threat."_

"Care to explain?" Jazz asked, her eyes still narrowed in a small glare.

"I'll let you know when Sam and Tucker get here, it's a bit of a story," Danny promised.

"I'll bet it is."

" _In other news today, Mayor Vlad Masters is leaving the city until the end of the month on vacation to his Colorado Retreat,'_ the reporter said, causing the siblings to turn their attention back to the radio. " _Our own Briana Renson managed to catch Mr. Masters before he left for the airport and had this to say."_

" _I've consulted with my doctor as I've been feeling a little under the weather recently,'_ Vlad's recorded voice said over the radio. " _I fear that I've been overworking myself, though for the good of our proud city I'd gladly work twice as hard, but there is no avoiding facts; I am in need of a vacation. I will be away in my private retreat and any problems can be taken to the City Council who am I am sure will handle decisions in my absence positively well._ "

" _Several of the Mayor's secretaries have said that they can clearly see why the Mayor needs a break,"_ the announcer spoke again. " _One of them even specifically quoted '_ I went to escort him from his meeting on Urban Development to his meeting on the current city budget, but he was already there. I barely see him break for anything and he always seems to be ready for the next job, it's almost like he can be in more than one place at a time.' _I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say our prayers go to our hard working Mayor, so that he might make a speedy recovery. Coming up is our two hours of music and our first request is the new instant hit,_ _ **Dumpty Humpty**_ ' _s 'Fall-A-Wall'."_

"So Vlad's out of town a while, good riddance," Jazz said happily before realizing that Danny appeared to be deep in thought. "Does this have anything to do with last night?"

"Yeah, but why is he leaving all of a sudden? I didn't trash him that bad, so I doubt he's just trying to heal his wounds. If he's going to back off to plot, why do it now when I'm not the only one who knows about him?"

"Who else knows now?" Jazz asked before hearing a knock on the front door. Figuring it was Sam and Tucker she opened the front door, revealing the two like she'd thought, but also a smiling Valerie Gray. Tucker was staring at Valerie in confusion while Sam had a slight suspicious glare.

"She found out?" Jazz asked turning to her little brother.

"I found out," Val confirmed in Danny's place, though she didn't exactly seem mad.

Jazz stared at Valerie and then her brother before asking the important question. "HOW ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?"

 _(A/N: Just as an experiment take a break from the story and watch the opening whenever you see the words below presented as such.)_

 _ **He's a Phantom**_

 _Outside Casper High, Amity Park_

 _7:33 AM_

"So let me get this straight," Sam began as the five walked the path to their high school. "You fought Skulker last night, followed Valerie, took on Vlad together, and we didn't hear any of this?"

"It was Monday night and I didn't want to bother you," Danny defended. "Besides, I had Skulker no problem, he was really just trying to let off some steam after his suit got trashed again."

"And you're alright with... this?" Sam asked Valerie, motioning to Danny. "You don't have any hard feelings between you two?"

"Not anymore," Val told them. "I got a little revenge shot in last night, so I'm cool."

"Revenge shot?" Tucker asked from beside Danny with an eyebrow raised.

"With her rifle, but I had it coming and I still think I got off pretty easy," Danny told him with a shrug before turning to Sam and tried to change the subject. "So the paper's coming out today?"

"Yeah, I got everything ready last night, all of the papers are in the bins, now I just have to hope that people read it," she said before opening the door to the school and found EVERYONE reading her papers. Danny and the other walked through the hallways in awe as they saw students nose deep in the papers, even Dash who Danny swore he'd never see reading (because he didn't think he COULD read).

"Jeeze, those things are going fast!" Tucker said as they walked through the halls, some people commenting on Sam's great job with the first paper.

"I know, right?" Danny said, looking happy. "Who knew that a Ensemble Band concert could get so much attention! It must've been a great article you wrote Sam!"

"Well it was," Sam said trying to feign happiness before looking guilty. "But I need to be honest I-"

"Hey Sam!" Summer, one of Valerie's friends and a love interest of Tucker's, said as she slowly walked up. "I L.O.V.E.D. LOVED your article on Danny Phantom fighting that Box Ghost creep!"

 _(_ _ **Somewhere in the Ghost Zone**_ " _BEWARE!")_

"Only next time you write, maybe you can leave out the article of the Ensemble band. It's seems pretty lame to read about a couple of nerds in suits performing when we could be reading more Danny Phantom!" Seeing Danny cringe under the weight of the words Summer raised an eyebrow before shrugging casually. "Well whatever. Remember; more Danny Phantom, less Danny... _Flute_ on."

"It's a saxophone," Danny muttered under his breath before heading to one of the Newspaper bins and fishing the last paper. On the paper's front cover was a picture of Danny _Phantom_ as he winded up a punch to clobber the box ghost into next week. There was also a picture of the concert in the front page, but it wasn't front lines and it certainly wasn't the topic of the _Phantom Beats Down Box Ghost_ headline.

"I should have told you sooner," Sam began, the guilt in her eyes more evident than earlier. "I wanted to cover concert as the main article, I really did, it's just that Paulina wanted me to fail and get an excuse to kick me out of the club and if I didn't put the Phantom article first they'd view it like a mistake…" The young-half ghost said nothing as he opened the paper and began turning the pages. "Danny, I… I'm sorry."

He said nothing as he looked for a few moments at the last few pages of the paper before glancing at Sam, rolling his eyes, and placing a hand on his hip before smirking. "I thought I told you to get a good shot of my left."

Sam realized this was a form of forgiveness through a joke and smiled. "Kind of hard when you're trying to show off every second."

"Come on, they're eating it up," Tucker said, gesturing to the students with their faces buried deep in their papers. "Trust me buddy, you're item number one on everybody's watchlist."

' _Like it or not,'_ Valerie thought as she saw Paulina down the hallway reading the paper, her face filled with confusion before turning to immediate rage. ' _This isn't going to end well…'_

 _Rocky Mountain Range, Colorado_

 _1:32 PM_

Vlad Plasmius floated above the mountain range as he charged a ghost ray in both of his hands. There was an evident strain on his face as he focused as much energy as he could into his palms before putting the together and blasting the cliffside as a single ray. The purple beam mercilessly struck the mountainside, tearing up the rock with ferocity and causing dust to stir. A few moments more of firing and Vlad stopped the blast revealing a fifteen meter deep indent in the mountain.

"This is all the damage I inflicted?" he questioned aloud as he observed the hole before sighing. "I figured I was out of practice, but I was certainly hoping I'd retained more of my power and skill than this… It's really no wonder Daniel was on the verge of surpassing me if I've allowed myself to become so... lax."

Focusing his powers once more, Vlad unleashed another blast, this time aiming it for the limitless heavens. He focused the attack's wavelength and form as he fired it, making it traveling far faster and far more precise. The Original Half-Ghost then fired a barrage of slowly moving orb like blasts and waited for them to fly further away. Once he was sure they were distant enough Vlad blast them with Ghost rays, keeping his attacks both rapid and precise as he blasted his previous round of attacks destroying them all with relative ease as they exploded in midair... save for the last one.

Vlad was startled at his inaccurate shot before firing again, but missing once more by mere millimeters. Growling to himself, Plasmius took off flying at breakneck speeds, flying much further ahead of the blast before turning and catching it in a single hand. He glared at the raw form of ghost energy that had eluded him before crushing it in his hand and violently dispelling the attack.

' _How unsightly… to think that I've lost this much skill,'_ Vlad thought to himself once more as he floated down to his retreat and landed on the grounds. ' _I might've been fooling myself, what if I've been doing nothing but wasting my own time? I could be back making a new sui-!'_ Vlad shook the thought out of his head.

"Calm down Plasmius," he chided himself. "This is your first day of solid training in a decade, it's going to take some time before you can reap any real benefits."

Vlad was interrupted as he heard a beastial roar behind him. Quickly turning he saw a glowing green ghost bear, a ghost dear, a ghost racoon, and several other spectral animals. He then remembered the animals he'd once controlled early in young Danny's ghost hunting career, the same who'd tried hunting him down when he'd momentarily had his powers stripped.

"Then again, I can certainly see this as a benefit," Vlad said as he smirked while the animals charged forward. Once the bear was within range to claw him to pieces, he fired a simple one handed Ghost Ray, blasting it back a good ten feet before it finally crashed to the ground. The other ghosts paused in surprise, stopping their assault to look at their dazed companion.

"Oh come now, where's that ferocity you had a moment ago?" Vlad taunted with a smirk. The animals resumed their savage growls as they surrounded Plasmius. "And please don't make this too easy; I AM training after all…"

 _Casper High Hallways_

 _3:30 PM_

Sam braced herself as she stood outside of the Newsletter club's meeting room. She wasn't really sure what to expect from her fellow clubmates, after all most of these people were the ones that had sent her out to get coffee and had ignored her as a whole. Now she had a paper out and a room full of her peers to judge her. Normally Sam wouldn't care about social status in the slightest, but this club was run by her constant instigator Paulina, meaning what happened here could turns her situation a little better or a world of worse.

Taking one final deep breath, Sam finally opened the door and headed into the the club room. As soon as she was inside, Paul, a young man with glasses who always seemed to be wearing a brightly colored polo ran up to her.

"Sam, that paper was amazing! I don't think we're ever managed to sell this many in one day!" he shouted in excitement.

"Uh… th-thanks," Sam stuttered before more student made their way over all of them offering her compliment or shaking her hand. Several of them seemed happier than she'd seen them since they'd been working here. Though the real moment came when a certain latina made her way over.

'Paulina…" Sam said, trying to remain emotionally neutral because she knew she couldn't fake a friendly smile towards her. Sam herself looked fairly emotionless before she did the unimaginable…

She HUGGED Sam.

"Great work," Paulina said with a very sweet tone.

' _Personal space, need personal space… Too. Much. Shallowness…_ '

Finally letting Sam out of her deadly hug, Paulina continued to smile sweetly. "Can I talk to you in private for a moment?"

' _And here it comes,'_ the goth thought to herself glumly. She nodded before opening the door and stepping outside.

"The rest of you, start brainstorming places where you think ghosts might show up. Danny Phantom's going to be at one of those locations and we've got to get his picture for next week's article." After Paulina gave the others her instructions, she roughly slammed the door before glaring at Sam. "What do you think that you're doing?"

"Publishing an article, something you don't seem to be in any rush to do." Our favorite goth never backed down from Paulina before, why would she start now?

"I told you I wanted you to cover the Band Concert!" Paulina shouted at Sam.

"Yeah, you wanted me to cover it and fail," Sam shot back. "I found Danny Phantom so I reported on him AND the band concert while you were 'too busy' dragging Valerie off to _Dumpty Humpty._ "

'You know I can kick you out of the club, right?" Paulina reminded, trying to reinstate her power over Sam.

"For doing my job while you wait to finally put out an article? I know I'm not Lancer's favorite student, but i know that he's going to take my side on this," Sam said, though she was bluffing slightly. She knew Lancer had a tendency to favor the popular side, but she hoped he'd be at least a little fair.

Paulina continued to glare at her for a moment before pointing inside the club room. "If you go over my head in there again, there WILL be trouble," she promised.

' _For someone who acts so innocent, I always seem to see her making threats,_ ' Sam thought to herself bitterly before noticing Paulina holding her hand out in expectancy. "What?"

"Your pictures on Danny Phantom, I told everyone from the start I'd be taking the originals to catalog them, hand them over."

Sam grit her teeth, but she eventually complied. She handed Paulina the photos, knowing that she could still make another set because she'd taken them with a digital camera, but enraged nonetheless. She'd been planning on putting those photos in her scrapbook and even if she could have copies, it still didn't feel the same. Paulina smiled as she took the photos in her hand.

"Don't get anything on them," Sam said to Paulina vaguely, meant in some form of an insult. Paulina just kept smiling at the photos so Sam began to open the door back into the club room.

"How'd your your geeky boyfriend like the papers?" Paulina asked with a smirk. Sam stopped cold. "How'd he feel to have his band placed second to Danny Phantom just so you could keep your place in the club?" Sam was about to answer (and deny Danny as he boyfriend), but Paulina answered before her. "He probably said he was fine with it, but you know how he is. He'll say it's fine even though you probably hurt him when you cared more about reporting than him."

Enraged, Sam roughly opened the door to the club before slamming it. She headed over to her place at her desk and put her head down on the table and tried her hardest to remain calm, trying not to scream out.

Outside in the hallway, Paulina walked down to the hallway with a bit of skip to her step as she looked over the pictures of her idol. When she finally made it to her locker filled with all of her other Danny Phantom fan pieces she smiled and took one last long look at her newest addition.

"Oh, Danny Phantom… He's sooooo dreamy and perfect..." she said longfully. "I wish I had ghost powers like him… Maybe then he'd finally love me..."

Paulina carefully finished putting her most of her pictures away in a special folder, but she did tape one of her newer pictures up front and center. She gave the picture a small peck before closing the door. Standing behind where the door was blocking her view stood a woman in an indian apparel who was glowing a ghostly green and smiling hauntingly. Paulina was about to scream out, but before she could the ghost spoke.

"So you have wished it, so it shall be…"

 _Casper High Band Room_

 _3:35 PM_

Danny and his band group had just finished performing Mozart when Danny felt a small chill before letting out a breath of cold blue air. Normally Danny always had to do this whenever he first saw Ghozart, but after the initial time he did he never did it again until leaving.

' _Oh no,'_ Danny thought to himself. Ghozart must've picked up on it, because as soon as he raised his hand the teacher pointed to the door. Danny packed his things up in a hurry before running out the door. ' _What am I going to have to deal with this time?'_

"Hey Professor?" Tyler, the boy who sat in front of Danny, asked as he raised his hand. "How come he gets to leave early like that?"

"He's openly come to me and told me that he has prior obligations that take precedence over the club," Ghozart explained. "The call ins are pretty random in timing at least." ' _Not a lie, but not the complete truth…'_

Once he was outside, Danny took a deep breath before running to his locker and cramming all of his supplies inside his locker.

"Great, now that that's done with I can finally start hunting," Danny said to himself, before remembering that Sam'd been annoyed that morning when she'd found out he hadn't kept her informed. "Or I can let Sam know and get some help; help is always good."

Back in the office Sam let out another groan, still staying face down on her desk having shown no intentions of moving thus far. Normally when Paulina said or did something to her she'd shrug it off and get to doing something else, but she'd crossed the line and brought her friendship into it and… well she could say some pretty nasty things, things that'd hurt her.

"Man, I could go for a mocha," she heard someone from the brainstorming table say. "Should we-?"

"Let's not," Paul commented. "Sam looks like she's in a bad enough mood right now without forcing her to run our errands."

"And after she put out a paper like that today… You want to know how good that paper was? I was about to be shoved into a locker by Dash Baxter, but then he saw that I was in the Newsletter club and he let me walk."

' _Really?_ ' Sam thought as she raised her head. She stared at the table, but as she looked past she noticed Danny standing outside, a worried expression on his as he tried to point to his right, trying to signal that there was ghost nearby.

"Actually, I'll go on a coffee run," Sam told the rest of the room causing everyone to look her way. "I'll get some air and who knows, maybe I'll run into that ghost boy again."

"Not a bad idea," Justin from photos said to her. "Be sure to take your camera with you, we don't need to be in more hot water now… Even if it is for Paulina... " He said that last part rather dreamily.

"Uh...sure…" Sam said, praying that someone around here would open their eyes soon.

"By the way, if you happen to see her, tell her to head back soon, we've already got a few solid leads and we want her to review them," Paul said before turning to his group. "Maybe we can think about something to write about if we DON'T see him?"

"Good thinking," Justin agreed. "Maybe we can cover something with the mayor's absence? I mean people'll care about that, he is a world famous billionaire."

"Yeah, you guys think about that," Sam said as she grabbed her club bag and quickly ran to the club door where Danny was waiting just outside. "So who is it?"

"Don't know, just found out there was a ghost," Danny told her as he took out his tiny green earpiece. "I'll start taking a look around the school, you grab Tuck and call Jazz."

"Okay," Sam said, but as the teen half-ghost was about to head to a broom closet to transform she stopped him by putting a hand on his shoulder. "Danny, you don't think that writing about you and Box Ghost instead of the band is being a bad friend, do you?"

"Didn't you write about both?" Danny asked with confusion. "And you already asked me that this morning; I'm not mad or anything. You're just doing your job in the club."

' _Yeah, my job and nothing else…'_ Sam thought sadly. "I-I'll go and get Tucker." The goth ran off, guilt still weighing her down heavily.

' _She's acting weird,'_ Danny thought before shaking the thought out of his head. ' _I'll deal with that later, right now I got to make sure that whatever ghost that's here doesn't cause too much trouble._ ' Finally making his way into a broom closet Danny transformed into his ghost form and phased through the ceiling.

"All right, now that I'm out here, where's the ghost?" Danny said as he looked around.

"DANNY PHANTOM!" Danny heard the voice only mere seconds before Paulina slammed into him, crushing him in the hug he was getting from her. "There you are!"

"P-P-P-Pu-" he stuttered while gasping for air.

"Paulina silly!" she said innocently as she let Danny go and floated in the air beside him making Danny realize she was flying on her own… Now that he saw her, her skin seemed a few shades paler and her irises were now blood red, and her clothes had changed colors to a red shirt and black pants.

"You're a ghost?!" he shouted as he struggled to get free. ' _Jeeze, Sam must've finally had enough and- No, that's not it!'_ "What happened to you?"

"I don't really remember much of what happened," she told him as she tried to think back. "Well I guess there was that really weird looking woman, and I mean she was WEIRD. Even weirder than gloomy girl."

"Desiree," Danny said to himself with a groan. "What'd you say before she showed up? Did you wish for something?"

"I just wished that I could have ghost powers like you," Paulina said tapping a finger to her chin. "Lucky right?"

"No, not lucky," Danny told her with a stern glare. "Look, it's kind of hard to tell you this (but not TOO hard), but those ghost powers aren't going to be good for you long term. I've seen this happen before and Tu- I mean a close human friend of mine was almost turned evil."

"Aw c'mon, that won't happen to me!" Paulina said with an eager smile as she kept flying around the sky. "See I can control my powers just fine!"

"Paulina wait!" Danny shouted as he followed after her. "Brilliant, just brilliant."

Back in the hallways of Casper High, Sam had finally managed to pry to Tucker away from his club.

"It was just getting good," Tucker moaned. "We were just about to leaving about enhancing productive wiring…"

"Yeah, well you'll have plenty of time to read up on it later when we catch this ghost, Danny's counting on us remember?"

"How could I forget?" Tucker said as he took out his cell phone. "I'll let Jazz know to meet us here, hopefully she's not too busy to give us a ride if we need one."

As the two finally made their way outside, they looked around the sky before finding Danny flying around and trying to follow the ghost.

"Well there's Danny," Tucker said as Sam took out her binoculars. "But who's that he's chasing?"

"...Just when I thought this day couldn't get any worse," Sam groaned as she looked through the goggles. "It's Paulina."

"A ghost possessed Paulina?" Tucker asked as he finished his text to Jazz. "How many times does that make?"

"I don't think that she's being possessed, it looks she actually has ghost powers!" Sam said. "But how'd she get them? I saw her here just a moment ago and she was her normal unbearable self!"

"Well I got ghost powers from the wish granting ghost Desiree, you probably don't remember 'cause you were out sick," Tucker reminded. "At least we know we can get the ghost powers out of her with the Fenton Ghost Catcher."

"Text Jazz to bring it, then we can deal with the actual problem," Sam said as she continued to monitor the two with her goggles.

"Too bad she knows us, otherwise you might've been able to stuff her into the Fenton Thermos." Tucker suggested with a smirk.

"Don't remind me that I can't do it now; it's been on my bucket list for a year," Sam said as she continued watching.

' _Why does she have to be so fast?"_ Danny thought above them as he tried to catch up with Paulina. He'd trying to improve his speed for months, but Paulina was going almost twice as fast as him without breaking a sweat. "Hey calm down! You need to listen to me!"

Finally Paulina seemed to stop and instead floated in front of him. "What did you need, partner?" she asked with a smile.

' _Partner?! This is worse than I thought!_ ' Danny thought while cringing. "Look, I know that you just got these new powers and you're excited to have them, but that ghost isn't going to let you be in control with them. She's going to take you over with them, and I don't want to see you get hurt."

"So you're worried about me, that's so sweet," Paulina said, Danny was going to cringe at her statement, but he didn't have time before Paulina grabbed the sides of his head and… lip locked him.

"Why are they so close together?" Tucker wondered from the ground before he adjusted his glasses. "Wait, are they-?" Hearing Sam growled ferally as the metal on the binoculars started to bend from her rage, Tucker had all of the confirmation he needed.

"That little-!" Sam vented as she brought the binoculars down. Her gaze was so heated that Tucker thought that the Goth's eyes were _literally_ on fire. "Who does she think she is? She should get away from Danny-!" Remembering that Tucker was watching and listening, Sam quickly changed what she was going to say. "I mean because of how mean she is to him when he's a regular human and not some idolized hero."

"...Right," Tucker said, shaking his head at Sam's continued denial. "Well let's let Danny finish talking to her, maybe he'll convince her to give them up or at least keep her busy until Jazz gets here."

Up above, Paulina finally ended her kiss and parted with the half ghost. "You're always looking out for me aren't you?" she said with a smile though Danny seemed to be unable to speak.

"Uh… I, uh… try to look out for everyone," Danny said, still slightly befuddled before shaking his head. "But really, we need to get rid of those powers before Desiree uses you to-"

"Is Desiree the ghost that I saw earlier?" Paulina questioned tapping her chin and appearing dead in thought, interrupting Danny.

"Yeah, that would be her," Danny informed as he wiped the lipstick off his face when she wasn't looking. "Like I said, we need to-"

"Beat her up so she can't take me over!" Paulina interrupted as she finished for him. "I'll go find her and beat her for you Danny Phantom!" Her energy was that of a total fangirl and Danny was caught completely unprepared as she sped away.

"Paulina wait! That's not how it works!" he called, but he was too late as she flew off at breakneck speeds. Danny shook his head before taking off and flying after her as fast as he could. "Dang I thought she'd have heard me… or is she just that stubborn to keep her powers? Wouldn't put it past her."

Danny flew as fast as he could in an attempt to keep up with Paulina, but since she was faster than him he was having trouble keeping up and started to fall behind.

"Paulina wait!" he called out as loudly as he could. Pushing himself to new limits, Danny increased in speed going faster and faster. His chest started to ache as the overexertion of his ghost powers started to hurt his body, but eventually he stopped falling behind Paulina.

' _Okay, I'm matching her speed, as long as I don't lose her-_ ' A sudden bang snapped Danny out of his thoughts. Turning his head as he flew by, he saw the _First Bank of Amity Park_ with a hastily parked running car at the front without a cop car in sight. Looking back to the soaring form of Paulina, he sighed as he changed course. "Brilliant..."

Turning incorporeal, the half-ghost phased through the ceiling where he found the bank teller being held at gunpoint by one thug, three businessmen and one mother with her daughter being held at gunpoint by second thug, and three others loading the cash in duffle bags. All of the thugs were in black hockey masks and black jumpsuits.

' _Been a while since I've stopped a robbery, usually I just got framed for 'em,'_ Danny though remembering what happened during the time he wasn't seen as Amity Park's protector. ' _Glad I finally got rid of that Inviso-Bill name… but how am I supposed to handle this? I guess for now I should wait until the get away from all of the people and sabotage their car.'_

"Come on move it, get the money," the thug holding the teller told his friend. "It's a miracle the cops aren't here yet."

"We're going as fast as we can, but it's gonna take time to fill all the bags," one of the thugs getting the money from the vault said back. "Ten bags still takes a while."

"Well it's all going to be worth it when we cash this, uh… cash in," the thug threatening the businessmen and family said. "Hey boys! Think we should get a hostage?"

"Good thinking," one of the thugs said. "Get the kid, he's easy to carry."

"Just what I was thinking." The child screamed out as the thug stretched his sweaty hand out to grab him, but he didn't get far as Danny turned tangible right in front of him. "What the-!"

Danny delivered a powerful left hook to the thug's face, sending him flying back and knocking him unconscious. The thug holding his gun to the teller was about to react, but Danny was too fast for him as he fired two Spectral rays, one that destroyed the gun while the other blasted his target into the desk and knocked him out. The three thugs from the vault grabbed their guns and began running out, but a quick ice ray sent the three sliding across the floor and where they crashed into the wall. Using his enhanced speed Danny brought all of the criminals together and tied them with the bank poles.

"If you wanted to make a quick buck you should have gone with the garage sale," Danny told them with a stern look as he crossed his arms, earning several glares from the thugs. "Is everyone alright?"

"It looks like it," the bank teller said with a sigh. "What's happening with the police though? It's never taken them this long to respond, even after I managed to use our silent emergency signal. You saved us Danny Phantom."

"Just trying to do my job," Danny said with a small sense of pride as he gave a small wave to the kid he'd saved, who was waving back with a big smile on his face. "Those poles should hold them until police get here, but make sure you don't let them get away."

Flying through the ceiling, Danny took out his earpiece and activated before glancing around. "Guys, you there?"

"We're all here," came Jazz's voice on the other end of the line. "What happened?"

"Good news and bad news," Danny said as he continued looking around. "Good news is I managed to stop a bank robbery, bad news is Paulina got away and I don't have any idea where she is."

"That's not the only bad news," Sam's voice came from the other end.

"Yeah," Tucker said. "Sam had to see you and Paulina make-" _**WHACK!**_ "OW!" Danny didn't say anything, but his cheeks were tinged with red.

"What I was TRYING to say was we have a problem with the Ghost Catcher," Sam said. "The strings aren't glowing blue any more, they just look like regular white strings."

"You gotta be kidding me!" Danny said with ire. "It's doing this now of all times!?"

'Yeah, I've been looking through a couple of my old books, but most of them don't give exact details of how they were made or what the problem is."

"Which means we need to ask my dad," Danny groaned. "Sam, Tucker, if you want, try taking a look around town to see if you can find Paulina or Desiree, Jazz, could you...?"

"Say no more, I'll ask him," Jazz said, though she didn't sound happy about it. "Don't make a habit of this, I don't want to always be the one who listens to do blather on about ghosts."

"Blather on about ghosts she says," Danny groaned after he switched off his ear piece. "Okay, Danny think, where could she have gone? I mean she couldn't have got into too much troub… Nope, not finishing that sentence!"

 _Elmerton: Abandoned Train Yard_

 _4:09 PM_

"I love having ghost powers!" Paulina screamed as she flew around at high speeds, occasionally doing loop-de-loops or other air tricks. "So this is how he sees us!" she said as she flew around. "But how am I supposed to find that ghost from earlier… I know, Danny said I should have some sort of ghost breath to find ghosts when I get close to them, maybe I can use that!"

As the most popular girl in Casper High continued to fly around aimlessly, a certain ghost hunter Ghost Hunter picked onto her signal a few miles away.

"About time I found something, I was starting to get impatient," Valerie Grey said as she checked her scanner. "This one looks like it's pretty fast, let's see how good the thrust on my board is." Her rocket took off at high speeds towards the ghost while Valerie continued to check her ghost scanner. The ghost was going pretty fast, but Valarie managed to do a little fancy work with her board and cut them off.

"There you are you-!" she shouted getting ready for an insult but instead was surprised to find Paulina. "You!"

"Oh so you know me," Paulina said, not realizing it was Valerie under the armor. "You're that Ghost Hunter right? _Crimson Ranger?_ "

' _Now I know how Danny felt when they called him Inviso-Bill_ ," Valerie thought. "Yeah that's me, but aren't you supposed to be human?"

"Of course I'm human," Paulina said before looking down at her body. "I mean I was… but then this ghost granted my wish and now I've got ghost powers!"

"Really…" Valerie said, remembering that Danny had said something about getting his powers by screwing around with the ghost portal. "You'd better come with me, I think that Danny Phantom's going to want to talk with you."

"Oh I've already talked with him," Paulina said with a big sigh. "He's so dreamy…"

"Tch, yeah, dreamy," Valerie said, rolling his eyes under her helmet.

"You don't think so?" Paulina asked. "But isn't he your partner?"

"Not by a long shot," Valerie told her truthfully. "Maybe our interests align every now and again, but I've got my own ways of fighting ghosts, he has his. End of story."

"Is that so?" Paulina said as he eyes grew blood red. Valerie almost didn't have enough time to react and dodge before she was almost hit by spectral rays.

"What's your problem!?" Valerie shouted as she stabilized her board. She noticed that the red glow in Paulina's eyes was growing and he dark hair was starting to flow around her body chaotically. "If she didn't take two hours in the morning to get herself ready I'm assuming this is what she'd look like."

"Danny's the real hero! You're just a faker!" she shouted as she sent out a massive blast of ghost energy. Valerie raised an anti-ghost barrier in front of herself to block the attack, but the force was so massive she was still sent back several feet.

' _She's out of control,'_ Valerie thought to herself before she brought out one of her ghost stunning grenades and activated it. "Hopefully this stops you for a while." Again the sphere emitted a pale green glow and slight whistle as Paulina gripped her eyes and ears and screamed.

" _GAH! WHAT IS THAT NOISE!? TURN IT OFF! TURN IT OFF!_ " she screamed, as she fired a ghost ray in Valerie's direction, but missed by a mile and frightened some poor crow.

"Calm down," Valerie's said with a sigh before throwing a set of ghost binding bolas which wrapped around Paulina and left her unable to move. "That should hold you for a while, but I think we should…" Valerie paused as she noticed Paulina was whimpering to herself very meekly before her cries started to get louder. "H-Hey are you alright? I didn't mean to-"

The next instant was horrific on the ears; a piercing scream that was enough to bend metal around the entire trainyard a cause terrible destruction, but the Ghost Hunter in the center of the attack had it worse off by far. Her very armor began to shatter and she began to lose control of her board. Worse yet was the effect she felt on her own body, it felt like something was attacking her very soul and killing her on a spiritual level. Valerie panted tried to remain on her board, but the attack was too much as her board shattered shattered as she plummeted 15 feet to the ground in her broken armor.

"W-wow," Paulina said as she observed the area and the ruin she caused. There was bent metal everywhere in the abandoned train yard and the bolas that had bound her were destroyed. "This is so… AWESOME! Now catching that Desiree ghost is going to be easier than I thought! I'll show Danny Phantom that I can help him! I'll be show everyone that I'm his real sidekick and then…" she giggled to herself. "Then I can wrap him around my little finger."

Not even giving Valerie a second thought, the newly made ghost soared off to the skies to resume her search. Meanwhile the Ghost Hunter on the ground struggled to rise to her feet one sheer willpower alone.

"Got to call… Danny…" she said before exhaustion overcame her and fell to the ground and faded out of consciousness.

 _To Be Continued In Part 2_

 _ **Author's Note: Don't Own Anything**_

 _ **Quiz: Name two characters that have changed voice actors in the span of the show, but have also fought each other specifically. There may be more than one answer.**_

 _ **Well… that happened… Not exactly how I'd originally wanted this chapter to go, but if I tried making it any longer and overstuff it with more events it would never get out. This is why this chapter's gonna be a two parter, and part one felt surprisingly hard to write.**_

 _ **Anyways, the answers to the quiz were: Star, Quan, and Miss Attempted-Mary-Sue herself Paulina.**_

 _ **I'm not purposefully trying to bash on Paulina… okay maybe I am, but I think that I'm still doing her character justice… in an unjust way. Comment if you disagree, I'm curious what you all have to say.**_

 _ **Comment Responses:**_

 _The Brod Road :_ Thank you, I'm trying to keep things interesting and trying to explore new avenues of adventures and chaos.

 _Cheerful Grim :_ Thanks, this chapter a bit late for reasons stated above.

 _Paladin9800:_ We've never really seen Vlad in full training, so I agree it'll be interesting to come up with ideas on how he could improve with actual rigorous training. New power could be just a start.

 _Rebird691:_ *Claps* Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a winner

 _The Samurai Prince_ : Yeah, I've tried beta before and while they can catch most mistakes I try to get my chapters out as soon as they're done. Anyways yeah, screw Phantom Planet. They gave us some of what we wanted, but it rushed even that terribly.

 _ **I have a better idea of how to progress from here, so I should be able to get the next update out sooner. Ciao!**_


	5. Of Admiration and Chaos: Part II

_**Of Admiration and Chaos Part 2**_

 _Elmerton  
5:19 PM Tuesday October 9th, 2018_

"Come on, where is she?" Danny said to himself as he soared through the air in his desperate search for Paulina. Ever since he'd lost the newly ghost empowered teen when he needed to stop the bank robbery, he hadn't seen Paulina or Desiree and his ghost sense hadn't activated even once since he'd begun searching. He hoped that he'd have run into at least one of them with all of the flying around he was doing.

"Still no luck," Danny groaned before switching his earpiece on. "Guys, tell me you've got good news…"

"I wish," came Tucker's voice on the other end. "We've checked the park, the mall, the skating rink, we even doubled back to the school just in case and swung by her place. We haven't found a trace of Paulina anywhere and as for Desiree there are just too many places where she could be."

"Brilliant, just brilliant," Danny sighed. "Maybe if I'd let the cops handle that bank robbery I could've caught her."

"Danny don't beat yourself over that, you did the right thing," Sam tried to tell him. "If anyone's to blame for this it's me. This wouldn't have happened if I hadn't written about the Box Ghost fight…"

"Uh, Sam? You okay?" Danny asked over his earpiece with concern.

"Oh, it's nothing, just some goth stuff," she tried to assure him. Danny was pretty sure it went deeper than that. "Look, Jazz headed back to find out about the _Ghost Catcher_ a while ago so I think it's time we saved her from your dad, maybe she found something."

"Let's hope…" the half-ghost said with a groan. "Head to my place guys, we'll try to figure out a plan of attack and start the search again tomorrow. There's nothing we can do if the _Ghost Catcher's_ out of commission and we can't be drowsy when we do find them."

"Got it, we'll see you back at your place," Tucker said before Danny switched his earpiece off and put it in his pocket.

"This day just keeps getting worse doesn't it?" he said to himself as he started flying over the old abandoned trainyard. He was about to pass it by when he stopped and noticed the terrible state it was in. Trains cars had been blasted off their rails, the metal tracks were horribly bent, and even the ground itself looked like it had cracked.

' _What on earth happened here?_ ' Danny thought to himself as he landed on the ground and continued to look around. ' _I'm not sensing any ghosts nearby, but could Paulina or Desiree have wrecked this place? Did they manage to meet up?_ '

While the Half-Ghost hero was deep in thought, he caught a glance of a bright red piece of metal out of the corner of his eye. This stood out because it wasn't rust covered, it almost looked like it was glowing crimson.

' _What's this doing here? It almost looks like a piece of Valerie's armor...'_ Danny though before his eyes widened when he realized what that meant. "Valerie!" he shouted as he soared into the air and flew around the area, desperately attempting to find her. ' _Come on, come on! Where is she!?_ '

He didn't have to search long before he found the body of his crimson armored friend laying on the dirty ground. Not wasting a moment, he soared to the downed form of his friend and knelt beside her.

"Val c'mon, please be alright," Danny said desperately as he tried to raise her off the ground leaving her to groan slightly. "Val? Val! Say something!"

"Something…" she said very weakly, causing Danny to give a small, sad smile. "Paulina… She was a… ghost…" Her face became strained as she blacked out once more in Danny's arms.

' _At least she's okay…'_ Danny thought before glancing around. ' _But Paulina managed to do this all of this damage and take out Valerie? How's she getting all of this power so quickly?_ ' Shaking his head, he lifted the ghost huntress and took off into the air with only one thought in his mind. ' _What am I supposed to do now?_ '

 _ **He's a Phantom**_

 _Fenton Household  
5:30 PM_

"-and that's how I got my inspiration to base my the _Fenton Thermos_ off of an old soup thermos that I used back in college," Jack Fenton said proudly to his daughter whose eyes were already glazed over. "And to think, I was the one that managed to catch that squirrel and save the party with it! I was the hero… at least I'm pretty sure that's why they dumped the rest of the fruit punch on me, might've been because I broke the chocolate fountain when I knocked Harriet into it."

"Th...that's great dad," Jazz said as she let out a tired yawn. Listening to her father blather on about ghost hunting tools, almost-encounters with them, and even old college memories was mentally exhausting (and maybe a little scarring as well).

"Hah, if you think that's great you should hear about when I finally managed to find my first ghost; you can fact check for me since you were there!" Jack said with a large goofy smile and Jazz was starting to lose hope. Thankfully she appeared to have a guardian angel as the front door opened revealing Tucker and Sam.

' _About time they showed up,_ ' Jazz thought to herself in annoyance.

"Sam! Tucker! You're just in time," Jack Fenton said to them. "I was just about to tell Jazz here about the first time I saw a ghost! It was an odd day in Amity Park, in fact I'm pretty sure they were having some sort of meat-veggie face off."

"I won that by the way," Tucker decided to inform Sam, earning the small elbow to his ribs from her. "Ow! ...Sorry Mister F, but we were supposed to meet up with Danny after our clubs."

"Danny? Haven't seen him so he must still be out," Jack said before smiling and crossing his arms. "But that just means I can blather on about ghosts to the both of you until he-!"

"Dad! I'm already home!" Danny called from his room upstairs.

' _He's been home this entire time and he didn't let me know?!_ ' Jazz thought with obvious rage. ' _Why the heck didn't he get me out of here!?_ '

"Oh, and uh, Valerie's here too. She came over to get some help from Jazz on her homework," Danny continued.

"Both of you managed to come in without Jazz or I noticing?" Jack said with slight confusion on his face. "Was I blathering on about ghosts that much?"

"YES," was Jazz's very annoyed response as she headed upstairs, followed by Sam and Tucker. As soon as she opened the door she was about to rail on her brother, but that was before she saw the wounded and unconscious Valerie Gray laying in Danny's bed while he looked over her in concern.

"That… is not a good sign," Tucker said, quite clearly stating the obvious as he closed the door. "Where'd you find her?"

"The Elmerton train yard," Danny said without taking his eyes off of Val. "She managed to say that she found Paulina before blacking out. I carried her here and the armor she was wearing vanished on the way."

"Seriously? And Paulina wasn't anywhere to be found?" Jazz asked. Danny simply shook his head. "She really knocked her out and just left her there… we have to stop her."

"No kidding, that's what we're here to talk about," Danny said before hearing a groan coming from the sleeping form of his wounded friend. "Valerie?"

"My head…" she groaned before looking around at all the gathered group. "Hey guys."

"Not saying I'm not happy to see you're awake, but you're sure it was Paulina that knocked you out right?" Sam asked, trying to get right to the point.

"Yeah, she said that she got ghost powers from some wish granting ghost before asking if I was Danny's partner. 'Told her I wasn't and she went completely ballistic on me." Valerie let her head slump back onto the pillow. 'I thought I'd caught her, but then she wiped the floor on me in one move."

"Well I let her get away, so the blame's not all on you," Danny admitted. "But Val, when she knocked you out do you remember what she used? I need to know what we're dealing with."

"She fired some of those ghost rays at me to start, but she didn't hit me at all with those. I even got her stunned and tied up so I thought it was a done deal, but then she, well she screamed."

"She screamed?" Danny repeated with confusion before remembering all of the damage that the attack had caused to the trainyard, all of the widespread destruction. He face palmed when he realized what that meant. "Oh no…"

"What's wrong? What's he mean _oh no_?" Valerie asked the others.

"It's called the _Ghostly Wail_ ," Jazz told her. "It is a scream, but with a ton of ghost energy behind it the effects can be devastating. It's one of Danny's strongest Ghost Powers."

"I wish it was just one of my strongest," Danny said with his face still buried deep in his palm. "It's the ultimate attack; it covers the user from all angles while the opponent can't do anything to retaliate and receives intense damage. It tires you out fast, but against most opponents it's enough to finish them off within one use if you don't stop."

"And she learned it without you teaching it to her…" Tuck said as he mulled over it himself. "She's not just getting ghost powers, she's getting _your_ ghost powers. That's gonna make her even tougher to deal with. How are we supposed to fight that?"

"We take away her ghost powers," Danny told them before turning to Jazz. "What'd did dad say about fixing the _Ghost Catcher_?"

"Dad's version or human version?" Jazz asked him with a glare causing Danny to gulp. "Next time you're asking him. Good news, we know how to fix it; it turns out the strings effect simply wore off and we need to create a sort of covering to the strings." She grabbed a paper list out of her pocket. "I have a list of ingredients that I got from dad along with how to re-apply it to the strings."

Sam took the list and looked over the ingredients. "A lot of these are rare species of plants, only found in very specific parts of the world that you can't get to easily. The rest are types of incense from Japan that costs hundreds to import." Sam then gave a cocky smile. "All of which are being grown in my personal garden."

"Finally something we can work with," Danny said with a breath of relief before acknowledging that it was never that easy. "...What's the catch?"

"It's going to take time to make," Jazz told him sadly. "When mom and dad made theirs, they already had all of the materials and started the process of making it. They didn't even use it until they caught their cold a couple of months later."

"So how long does it take to make then?" Danny asked with a grimace.

"A month if we're careful, two weeks if we rush it," Jazz admitted with a pained smile.

"Two weeks!?" Danny shouted. "You're telling me we need to wait two weeks before we get Paulina's powers taken care of!?"

"Danny, there's nothing we can do about it," his sister explained. "Preparing the ingredients is going to take time regardless of how much we have ready and letting the strings soak in the mixture we make is going to take even longer if we're going to do it right."

"But that still leaves Paulina out there wreaking havoc and fangirling over Danny," Tucker pointed out, causing both Sam and Valerie to unwillingly gag. "Look, I got taken over by Desiree before and while I had those powers I went to a pretty dark place. I wanted to see Danny hurt even after he caught her and he's my best friend. Imagine what someone like Paulina would do if she was really upset; what happened to Valerie might be the best case scenario."

"So we need Paulina taken care of somehow, especially if we're going to do this before Plasmius find out about her," Valerie said as she stood and slowly walked over to lean against the wall while Danny stood ready in case it look like she would collapse. "So what do we do?"

"Until you get that armor repaired I don't think you should be doing any ghost hunting unless we absolutely need you," Danny told her. "You've got club tomorrow and you should rest up after what happened today anyways."

"Alright," Valerie agreed, though she felt somewhat bitter about it. "What about you guys? What's your plan?"

"As hard as it's going to be I'm going to have to face Paulina alone," Danny told them. "I know it's dangerous, but I'm the only one that can even think of getting close to her. Even if she's possessed she might listen to me, but if she sees any of your faces it's more than likely she'll go ballistic and destroy a city block."

"I have the feeling no plan's going to be perfect anyways," Tucker said told them. "At least this way while Danny's going after Paulina, the rest of us can try to find Desiree and keep her from granting any of those backfiring wishes. It's a miracle that we haven't had any others to deal with, but we can stop her now before this goes from bad to worse."

"So we'll keep in touch over our headphones and try to coordinate with each other while we search the city," Jazz told the gang. "I'll try to see if I can't convince Dad to let me take the R.V. out in case we need some extra firepower. That just leaves you to make a plan for taking down Paulina's ghost."

Danny thought hard to try to find a way to handle the deranged and possessed fan girl, but in the end he only came up with one option, one that he really didn't want to use. "Depending on how bad things get I might have to make sure Paulina can't do anything to hurt herself or anyone else," he told his friends before grabbing out the _Fenton Thermos._ "If I absolutely need to, I'll put her in this."

"You're going to trap Paulina in the _Fenton Thermos_?" Sam asked, her eyes widening in shock at the statement. "Danny are you sure? We've never had to go that far before with a possessed human."

"We've never had to deal with something like this either," Danny told her with a grim expression. "If Paulina can do this much damage in her first day of being possessed imagine what she could do in long run. If we're not careful she could wipe out Amity Park!" The half-ghost hero sighed. "Look I hate it too, I won't enjoy this like Skulker or some other freak that would want to put her in a cage, but we don't have another choice."

' _This is really hard on him,_ ' Sam thought to herself. It was killing her to see Danny acting like this when she didn't think that there was anything that she could say or do to help him. She wish that she could offer something, suggest an alternative… and then it hit her.

"Hey, do you think Ghozart might have an idea for this?" Tucker, Jazz, and Danny glanced at each other while they considered the possibility while Valerie Gray seemed very confused at the idea.

"Ghozart? Our school's band teacher that keeps tripping over his own coat tails when he walks in the hallways? You're going to _him_ for help?" she tried to clarify, leading to Jazz sending yet another glare at her brother.

"You didn't tell her, did you?"

"I've been busy!" Danny shouted in his defense before noticing the expectant gaze Valerie was sending his way as she awaited his answer. "The thing about Ghozart, the clumsiness is an act… well, partly an act at least. Truth is he's a ghost…"

"He's a-" Valerie began before shaking her head to try and keep herself from shouting at Danny. "Continue…"

"I don't really get Ghozart, but since I've met him he's managed to help train me with my ghost powers and I've gotten pretty strong because of him. I don't think he's someone we need to be worried about and we can go to for help. If there's anything we can use, he could know it and hopefully I can use it."

"I guess we're not getting out of school for this then," Tucker said with a shrug. 'Pity, but we'll have to move fast after the bell rings. We still gotta get that Book Report finished before friday and with all of the running around we were doing we can't type any of it out tonight."

"Speaking of reports, I've got this for you Valerie," Jazz said as she handed her a folder. "Inside's information about every ghost we've met so far. You should try reading up on it."

"You corrected it right? None of that weird naming and hypothesis stuff you used to have?" Danny asked nervously remembering how things had been when his sister had been new on the job and the chaos it had caused.

"I updated it when we found Ghozart, everything in that binder's just the way you're going to need it," Jazz told him with a proud smile that wasn't quite reassuring to our favorite half-ghost.

"...You should probably check one of the entries before you leave," Danny advised, scratching the back of his head. "Juuuuust to be safe."

"Okay?" Valerie said as she opened the folder immediately skipping to the back where she found Ghozart's file which she began to read aloud. "Let's see… **Real name:** Victor Von Ghozart. **Current ghost name:** Non-Applicable. **Attack Capabilities:** Able to manipulate musical instruments to emit sound based attacks."

' _So she actually updated it,'_ Danny sighed with relief. ' _Well at least that entry, but he was one of the few that we found together._ '

" **Weakness:** None in particular, but does seem to have a savage hatred for modern rock or hip hop music," Valerie continued to read for everyone aloud. " **Status:** Unknown motives, but currently non-hostile and acts as Danny's tutor. **Current Ghost Relations:** Ember Mc...Lain? Daughter?"

"What!?" Tucker shouted out as he turned to Danny. "Ember's his daughter!? Ghozart's? The guy that blasted me just for playing modern music in his classroom?"

"She is, but given the whole Classic versus Modern thing they got going it's definitely not the perfect father-daughter relationship, hence the different last names," Danny explained. "Sorry, thought we told you about it after she tried to wreck the concert Tuck."

"Dannnnnnnny!" Maddie Fenton called her son from downstairs. "I'm going to start dinner now hon! Are your friends going to join us for meatloaf in a hour? I have one of those garden burgers to heat up for Sam if she wants!"

Danny looked to his friends who shook their heads. "We're good mom, but thanks!"

"I should probably head home now anyways," Tucker told his friend as he gathered up his things. "My mom told me she was making pork chops and I told her I'd be back for 'em. I'll see you guys tomorrow."

"I should get going too, maybe I can start looking at the herbs we need," Sam said as she also stood to leave. "See you tomorrow, hopefully Paulina won't show up at the school to cause chaos."

"If she's got ghost powers I can't see her wasting time with school. She's not about to let herself get stuck listening to Lancer when she can just phase through the walls," Valerie said before glancing to Danny. "Do you ever-?"

"Not unless there's a ghost nearby; I have fun with my powers sometimes, but when I try to abuse them it never ends well. I've got a responsibility to keep everyone safe," Danny told her. "Speaking of which Val, you need some help getting home? I need to head back to the school to grab my backpack anyways."

"I'll be fine," Valerie said as she got up from the bed with little difficulty. "I'll just have to let my dad know that I'm taking a quick break from ghost hunting, he'll probably be pretty happy about it."

"Alright then," Danny said before remembering something important and handing her the _Fenton Thermos_ he'd been carrying. "I also need you to keep this on you wherever you go; having a Thermos on you can give you a quick edge against a ghost."

"Thanks," Valerie said as she took her new ghost hunting weapon and put it in her backpack. "But what about you? How are you going to catch ghosts without one?"

"All of us already have a Thermos," Jazz explained. "It's in the notes, but what happened was after dad made the first one and saw Danny using it he tried to find a way to make his own. He's thrown out several of them that he thought were failures, but the truth is they all work. The only thing that they need is for Danny to activate it with his Ghost powers."

"Kind of tragic that he keeps making them while he thinks they don't work, but at least we have a ready source of them," Danny said as he went to his closet and grabbed a Thermos of his own out.

The group then headed down the stairs and saw Jack Fenton sitting on the couch seeming to tinker with a complex and bizarre circut board of sorts. He eyed the teens as they began to leave. "Not sticking around for more ghost hunting stories?" Everyone present shook their head. "Oh well, at least I can keep telling them to Jazz and Danny!"

"Actually dad I've got homework to be getting to," Jazz said before going upstairs to her room in a hurry.

"Oh… then I guess it's just me and Dan-"

"Heading out! Be back for dinner! Bye!" Danny shouted rapidly before rushing out the door in a hurry.

Sam, Tucker, and Valerie each gave each other and odd glance before following Danny outside and left the Fenton father inside. Jack was slightly disappointed, but he just gave a casual shrug before resuming his work on the circuit board.

"Makes you glad you really have to grab your stuff, doesn't it?" Tucker asked Danny with a whimsical grin when they were all outside.

"No kidding," Danny said as he got a good distance away from the building before transforming into his ghost form behind a car. "I'll see you guys around, let's try to wrap this mess up tomorrow before things go from bad to worse." And with that the half ghost floated off to the school, leaving his friends to travel back the traditional way.

 _Amity Park Northern Town Borders_

 _5:45 PM_

In the time that had passed since Paulina had beaten Valerie in the train yard, the teenage heartthrob had never stopped smiling for a moment. Flying through the air at great speeds and mobility was pure bliss for her and looking at her city below her gave her a stronger sense of importance. She'd spend all of her flight keeping her eyes peeled in her search for for Desiree, but at present she hadn't come across her at all.

"Aw, still no luck," the young heartthrob said as she headed towards the open field and finally landed for the first time in hours. "Maybe I should go back into town and find Danny Phantom to help me… What am I saying? If I want to show him that I can hunt ghosts with him I need to show that I can stand on my own!"

Despite her excitement of gaining her idols approval, Paulina flinched as her stomach let a low and dull groan. She then remembered that she hadn't eaten anything since lunch and she'd barely had anything then because she'd been so upset that Sam and reported on Danny Phantom. Oh, how the tables had turned. Now she was the one getting close to Amity Park's local hero and she'd even got enough ghost powers to become his partner to boot… or so she thought.

Back to the issue of her stomach, the middle-schooler weighed her options; now that she could fly it would be an easy matter to swing back home and grab some food, but if her father managed to find out about her powers she might not be able to continue ghost hunting because of how protective he was. She could always head to _Nasty Burger_ , but she'd lost her purse when she'd transformed and she wasn't ready to show off her ghost powers _just yet_ (she wanted to have a beaten and captured Desiree to show everyone, maybe a kiss from Danny Phantom to seal the deal). She DID have ghost powers now, so it was certainly possible to 'borrow' some food, but if Danny found out she might lose a bit of his trust.

"Why does it have to be so hard to get food?" she groaned as she crossed her arms and stared up at the sky impatiently as if she were waiting for it to begin raining food. "Aw… I wish I could get a _Mini Meaty_ meal."

Across town, _Nasty Burger_ was in the middle of one of its busier times. Families that didn't feel like cooking that night were starting to come in for their dinners and order the overpriced fast food being served.

"Order 54! I've got order 54 ready!" one of the minimum wage cashiers called out to the cluster of customers that were seated. One group of families in the far back raised their number card so she took the food over and started laying it out for them. "Alright, first we've got the Mega Meaty meal with a large soda, an UNmeaty salad with thousand island dressing, a Meaty Jr. kids meal, and lastly a Mini Meaty with no pickles or onions and a side of fries."

It was at that moment when the Mini Meaty and the fries started floating in the air. The cashier took a step back in surprise, right before the food flew off at high speed through the door, just as it was opened but an unaware customer.

"...I'm not paying for that," the father said as he crossed his arms and tried to act assertive.

"Technically sir, you already did," the waitress reminded, causing the man to blanch.

The greasy food continued its journey through town, attracting attention from passersby while barely managing to the avoid the flock of birds that tried to take it. When it finally came to a stop and hovered in front of a very surprised Paulina the food was clearly still warm.

"Sweet! I got exactly what I wanted just by wishing for it again! Maybe I've got a new ghost power!" she said with a cheery smile before grabbing the floating ghost burger. She opened her mouth to take a bite of it, but paused and narrowed her eyes at the food. "Wait… Where's the soda?"

The carbonated cherry flavored drink showed up very shortly after that, so Paulina did dig into the mystery meal. After enjoying her food an obvious idea came to mind.

"If I can get something just asking for it… I wish that ghost Desiree was here!" She got ready to fight as she waited for the wish granting ghost to appear in front of her. A minute passed, then two, nothing seemed to indicate that the ghost would show. "Nothing… How does this stupid thing work anyways!?"

Paulina continued to grumble to herself. She'd hoped it would have been this easy to take down Desiree, but if she couldn't track her down she couldn't fight her, she couldn't fight her she couldn't catch her, she couldn't catch her she couldn't convince Danny Phantom that she could take on ghosts.

"Dang it," Paulina said with a annoyed pout as she hovered in mid-air. "...I wish I had a bottle of that new perfume that was being advertised on the radio today." The bottle of said product appeared in front of her not long afterwards and she gave a small smile; at least she'd have something to do in the meanwhile.

 _Casper High Hallways_

 _5;57 PM_

Since the front doors were locked after hours, Danny had to settle for phasing inside. Everyone had gone home long ago (even Lancer's detention crowd), so now he wouldn't have to worry about being caught by anyone in the school. He hurried over to his locker and grabbed his backpack out of it.

"All right, that was easy enough," Danny said to himself before coming up with an idea. "Maybe I can check to see if Ghozart's in the band room and save us some time before tomorrow." Following his idea he headed past the band room, but sadly his ghost sense didn't activate. He checked inside to be sure and the room was indeed empty, ready for the next morning but empty. "I wasn't really expecting him to be here, but then where does he go when it's time for practice to end?"

Figuring that was a question for another time, he flew down the hallways to exit through the school before he saw that one of the lockers had been left open and all of the school books had been left strewn over the floor.

"Isn't this locker Paulina's?" he said to himself. "She never leaves it open… was this the place Desiree turned her into a ghost?"

He knew it wasn't right just to go snooping in someone else locker, but at the same time this could give him some kind of clue… besides, it was already open. Glancing inside the locker he saw it was covered with his face on almost every corner. He'd obviously known that Pauline was a big fan of his, but this had gone on far beyond what he'd thought she'd felt.

"Well she's obviously got a thing for ghost heroes," he muttered before a certain corner of the locker caught his eye and he grabbed the photos. "These are pictures that Sam took of me right after the concert. How the heck does Paulina have them? I don't think she made any copies so-" Danny grit his teeth as the answer came clearly to him. "So she would have needed to take them from her, and with how messed up Sam's acting..."

Using his powers solely out of annoyance or anger was something that Danny rarely ever did, but this time it felt justified. With a sudden blaze of green everything in Paulina's locker was immediately incinerated, not even leaving smoke or ash in its wake. With his anger still present, Danny roughly slammed the door to Paulina's locker so that the hollow clang would've been heard throughout the school. Not feeling the slightest bit of regret, the half-ghost turned intangible and flew out the ceiling of the Casper High School.

 _Rocky Mountain Range, Colorado_

 _11:45 PM_

' _To understand the powers of the ethereal, one must first understand their powers of the mortal plane. He who conquers himself conquers all. Losing sight of your desire, even the ones you hold close within the deepest folds of your heart, is the path towards truly accomplish all you are capable of physically and spiritually…'_ "I'll believe it when I see it."

Vlad Master's was sitting in his mountain retreat, reading over a collection of texts of spirituality from around the world entitled ' _Spirituality for Beginners'_ as he sipped a cup of warm chamomile tea while the burning log in the fireplace kept him warmed. His ghost powers may have originated from a ghost portal, he'd hypothesised that talks of humans with spiritual senses were more than simple ramblings of brazen old codgers; for him they could very well be a gateway into further evolving his powers.

' _Well that's enough on reading up on the subject,'_ he thought to himself as he set the book down and took a sip from his cup. ' _Time to put this into practice. The first step is working to obtain complete tranquility in my mind.'_

Vlad got up from his chair before seating himself in front of his fireplace with his legs crossed. He then closed his eyes, kept his breathing even and natural, and cleared his head of all thoughts. He continued this for several minutes, eventually sore parts of his body he hadn't even known were there began to relax themselves. Vlad then allowed himself to transform into his half-ghost persona and continued the process. He didn't see it through his shut eyes, but his body started to give off the smallest of glows.

' _This… this is amazing!'_ Vlad thought to himself while he tried to maintain his trance. ' _I've never imagined power like this… I can feel every bit of this room without touching it; I'm simply aware that it's here! Maybe now I can-!_ '

' _MISTER MASTERS!'_ a voice shouted in Vlad's subconscious, interrupting his train of thought. Within his mind he saw a man who had no face, but was very well dressed and holding a very important document. ' _Your company's earnings have skyrocketed this year like no one has ever seen! You're not just a multi-billionaire. You're a TRILLIONAIRE!'_

' _A trillionaire? Well, that would be great for me and my plans, but I-'_

' _Isn't that great dad?_ ' the figure who'd asked that did have a face; Danny had spoken those words and his smiling sister Jazz stood behind him.

' _D-dad?'_ Vlad thought as his sense around the room began to fade. ' _But if Daniel and Jasmine are my children, then-!'_

' _We should do something to celebrate honey!'_ Maddie said to her husband. ' _Perhaps we can host a party, have it at the stadium during the Packer's game. You do own the team after all!'_

' _All of my desires are disrupting my powers!'_ Vlad realized as he tried to focus. ' _I love Maddie and would want this more than anything else, but in order to obtain my desire I need to-!'_

' _Shall I cancel you previous plans?'_ the faceless man asked. ' _You were planning on holding a small get together to remember the passing of Jack Fenton and the absence of his 'endearing' antics and countless phone calls and texts…'_

Vlad's tranquility shatter and his newly acquired senses immediately faded as did the small aura he had unwittingly created. He sat in silence for just a moment, contemplating what he'd just seen and what this would mean for him. Then the billionair rose to his feet and grabbed the book he'd been reading.

' _So in order for me to have a tranquil mind I'll first have to free myself of my truest desires,'_ he thought to himself right before throwing the book in his fireplace. ' _NOT WORTH IT._ '

To Vlad at least, his incredible ghost powers were actually only the lesser half of what he truly was; it was his drive that truly made him a terrifying opponent. His conviction to see his schemes through no matter the risk, his ability to alter a situation to his favor, and even his patience to know when to withdraw and have a more fortuitous victory another day. He realized now that if he lost that… he just wouldn't be _him_ any longer.

"I think that's enough on spirituality and higher planes of existence for one day," Vlad said as he floated towards the door with an evil smirk. "I wonder if those ghost animals from earlier could actually get me to break a sweat now?" Hearing the high pitched whimper from outside, his smile only became all the crueler.

 _Fenton Household_

 _6:45 AM Wednesday October 10th, 2018_

Just as he'd planned, Danny managed to leave his house early the next day, fully intent on seeing his band teacher before class started so that he could get the answers that he desperately needed. Since he knew his parents weren't up yet, he cheated his morning routine and used his ghost powers to hurriedly get ready before phasing out of his house and headed off to the school.

' _Okay, now to see if I can get Ghozart away from the marching band without blowing either of our covers,_ ' Danny thought has he reverted back to his human form before entering Casper High. Traveling down the empty hallways Danny made his way to the band room, the sound of energetic and spirited marching band music getting louder the closer he got. When he made it to the door the music had luckily ended. Thinking a simple way would work the best, he stayed out of sight before knocking on the door. Danny listened Ghozart excuse himself before exiting the band room and finding Danny outside.

"Danny… I wasn't expecting to see you here," the band conductor said with small smirk. "Something tells you aren't here for advice on _Mozart's Requiem_ thought. So what seems to be the trouble?"

"It's that ghost I had to leave early for yesterday, I'm in some trouble and I need your help," Danny explained. "Is there any way to force a really strong ghost out of a person? Some sort of object or technique I can use?"

"Hmm…" Victor adjusted his glasses as he mulled it over. Well there is a _Ghost Catcher_ , but if memory serves they do take some time to make."

"Anything faster?" Danny asked, hoping for the best.

"There is, but the technique is rather… hard to come by," Ghozart explained. "You're sure that you need it now?"

"I need it ASAP," the half-ghost told his teacher. "The ghost is way too strong; it's starting to get my powers and the girl under its control is already starting to abuse it. I'll do whatever I need to, so it's either I manage to get the ghost out or I need to keep them both in my thermos."

"...You're willing to do whatever's necessary then," Ghozart said as he adjusted his cravat. "Well if you're that serious about it I can teach you what it is you need to know, but we'll do it during lunch. Bring your friend… Which one would you say you know the best?"

Danny mulled it over for a moment before remembering that Sam had started acting weird lately, most likely a result of something Paulina had said. "Tucker I guess, is that important?"

"Probably, it'll make learning the technique easier for you at the very least. Bring him to our training field during lunch. We won't have much time to work with, so it's important that we make every moment count." Ghozart told him. "Off topic for a moment, have you seen my daughter since the concert?"

"Ember? Can't say that I have, I mean whenever she starts to stir up trouble it's usually too big to miss… Though when I fought Skulker the other night he did tell me that she'd trashed his suit so that's something."

"I'm not surprised, she told us both as much," the band teach said before shaking his head. "I'll be seeing you at lunch Danny be pre-AUGH!" What happened next was Ghozart again tripping over his own tail coat and sprawling to the floor in a rather cartoonish way. "Aw...Not again…"

 _Ghozart's Training Grounds_

 _12:01 PM_

Just as planned, Danny headed to the usual training grounds right at lunch with Tucker. His tech obsessed friend was a bit disappointed that they'd miss Sloppy Joes day at school, but he knew that his best friend was counting on him to come along. Sam and Jazz had stayed behind to cover for them in case Lancer or another teacher discovered that they were missing and to keep an eye out if Paulina decided to head back to the school. When the two managed to arrive at the training grounds, Ghozart was already there waiting for them.

"Like I said this morning we don't have much time to work with so I'll explain it as we go," Victor told him before he smiled held out his hand for his protege to shake. "Danny… Best of luck."

"Uh… thanks?" Danny said, a bit unnerved. Not sure where this was going he grabbed his tutor's hand to shake, but his teacher's grip was much stronger and froceful than he'd thought. "Hey, what're you-?"

" _ **TRANSFER!**_ "

A bright and violent spark suddenly shone between the two. Danny's entire body felt like it was on fire as he felt a strange and alien form of energy course into his ghost form. When the sensation stopped he was completely out of breath and his body felt wrecked, but Ghozart seemed to look even worse.

"A little warning next time!?" Danny demanded as Ghozart shrugged and gave a guilty smile despite looking in pain. "What the heck did you even do?"

"I gave you the ability to use the ghost power I spoke of, the one that would allow you to free that possessed human. Any ghost has the ability to give or receive a ghost power, but it has to be given willingly and the original user loses the ability permanently, so don't expect a free hand out with every emergency. This technique has been given by many names, but its most popular by far is _Exorcism._ "

"You mean like that old horror movie _The Exorcist_?" Tucker commented, before he realized what that meant for him and his mood turned sour. "You're going to overshadow me,aren't you?"

"Calm down, you'll be perfectly safe, and we needed it to be you Tucker," Ghozart told him as he allowed his deceiving human form to turn ghostly. "As the name implies you're able to force a spirit out of your target. The form's similar to your ectoplasmic blast, but it takes a moment to focus."

Trying it out for himself, Danny focused power to his hands until they became encompassed by an eerie white glow. It took around five seconds to properly form, but the channeling wasn't that difficult. He fired a shot into the air, the blast itself was pure white and almost gave a strange calming feeling.

"Don't be complacent just that you know the technique, the application is much more difficult," his teacher told him. "When you're firing this blast at someone, you need to understand the person being possessed; you need to know who they are, the kind of life they live, their dreams and ambitions, everything about them. Otherwise the technique is sure to fail."

"Well that's easy, I'm a pretty open book when it comes to my friends," Tucker said, knowing how much he trusted his friends.

"You'd be surprised how much you unintentionally hide from others, and by comparison even yourself," Ghozart explained. "Are you ready Tucker?"

"I guess if I don't have a choice," Tucker said as he steeled his nerves. Ghozart's overshadowing was quick and painless and Tucker even managed to continue to move on his own authority. "Huh, I don't feel like I'm being controlled."

" _That's because I'm not trying to control you, I'm only taking refuge in your body for the time being,_ " Victor explained, his voice emitting in an echo around the two. " _Danny, think of this as 'easy mode'; I won't be using Tucker to attack you and you'll be able to get the technique details mastered as you use it. Now… Create an image of Tucker using the specifics I listed earlier and fire that blast at us_."

"Keep Tuck in my thoughts as I blast him, got it," Danny said sarcastically as he focused the blast to his hands and his best to focus his mind on what he knew about Tucker; a likable, humorous friend with a love for technology. When he'd thought he'd created the right image, he fired the pale blast at Tucker, but it just passed through his friend completely. "What happened?"

" _The image wasn't strong enough, keep thinking back to the time you've spent with each other and keep the image visible in your mind. Every bit helps!_ " Danny tried again, this time incorporating his friend's love of cute girls that was barely out classed by his love of meat. This time Ghozart seemed to be partial forced out of Tucker's back, but he reverted back to his normal position. " _Almost there! You're only missing a few key details!_ "

' _A few details he says…_ ' Danny thought to himself as he tried to think back. ' _C'mon! What am I missing!_ ' Though it was parts he wouldn't like to remember, he thought back to the times when he'd left Tucker behind because he was so pleased with his own ghost powers, the times Tucker had even been frustrated because Danny had ghost powers and he didn't, and the few times Tucker had gone out of control when he'd been given authority or power. Charging the blast once more, the attack he managed to fire went right in Tucker's chest and sent Ghozart flying out while his friend seemed more or less unaffected.

"I did it," Danny said as he smirked with satisfaction before he turned to Ghozart who appeared to be a little dazed. "You alright?"

"...I'll manage Danny, but well done," he said to his student before levitating into the air as he shock himself off. "Now comes the difficult part; how well do you know the person being possessed?"

"Paulina? I know her-" Danny couldn't finish that sentence as thought back to how little he actually knew Paulina. For someone who he'd spent last year crushing on he actually didn't know that much about what she did. Just that she was the popular and pretty kid at school and seemed to get on Sam's nerves quite a bit, but that's all that came to mind. "I don't know her that well."

"That's going to be a problem, isn't it?" Tucker asked before involuntarily shivering. "I hate getting overshadowed, always gives me this weird feeling afterwards."

"At least you can escape it easily now, some people aren't as lucky," Victor told him. "If I'd wanted to exorcise a person that I didn't know I'd take months investigating said person and finding out as much as I could about their lives before they'd been possessed."

"Wait, so you were a sort of exorcist?" Danny asked. "And you have this technique that can actually remove ghosts on top of being able to fight them with musical instruments… Just what the heck are you?"

"Just a conductor with far too much time on his hands and an old affinity for romance and adventure!" Victor said with a goofy smirk as he raised his arms and stared to the heavens, something that neither Danny nor Tucker understood. "But I'm afraid my days as an _Exorcist_ are long behind me, it's probably better that you have this ghost power in my place."

"Adventure?" the half-ghost questioned. "What kinds of adventures?"

"...That's knowledge you'll have to earn Mr. Phantom," Ghozart said with great whimsy as he flew into the sky. "You'd better head back to school, if you hurry you might be able to make it back in time for a quick meal. And a last piece of advice, if you absolutely need to, try guessing about Paulina." With that Danny's band teacher soared off at high speed back towards Casper High.

"You're still telling me that guy's Ember's father?" Tucker asked with much disbelief. "I still don't see it…"

"Yeah… I'm having trouble with that myself," Danny admitted. "Well I have a move now, all that's left is to wait until the final bell and then go after Paulina."

"And Sam, Jazz, and I got Desiree for you, just like we planned," Tucker assured his friend. "Biggest problem's going to find her, she's gone pretty silent for a popular girl like her."

"I'll deal with that after class, for now we should follow Ghozart and head back to the school; maybe make it in time to grab a Sloppy Joe for lunch if we hurry."

"...Think you step on it? I've got a presentation next period and could use the meat," Tucker requested.

"Yeah and I've got a test I need to be back for, let's go," Danny said as he grabbed Tucker arm and the two flew off. "Now that I think about it Paulina's in that class with me, think she'll be coming just to keep from failing it?"

"With her ghost powers? Trust me; right now school's the last thing on her mind."

 _Amity Park Shopping Mall_

 _4:25 PM_

' _Dang it! Flying in circles like this is ticking me off!_ ' Danny shouted to himself before flying around the shopping center while remaining invisible. ' _I can't find Paulina anywhere and I've been searching since we got out of school!'_ Letting out a groan, he tapped his earpiece on. "Any sign of either of them?"

"Danny it's the same answer as when you asked five minutes ago; we're looking," Jazz told him on the other line where she was driving around in the Fenton family R.V. "Just take a deep breath and calm down, we're not going to get anywhere if you keep blasting off without a plan."

"What about the ghost radar that dad tried to make?" Danny tried to suggest.

"You know it's not perfectly tuned, most of the time the only thing dad's ghost technology picks up is you," Jazz said. "The best we can hope for now is Paulina screws something up or Desiree decides to make a move."

"That just leaves us picking up the pieces like with Valerie," Danny told her.

"Actually, I think I might have something," Sam's voice said on the other side. "I've been playing around with the scanner and I've been noticing these weak but fast signals when I turn the sensitivity all the way up. There's one that looks like it's coming from somewhere really close to you."

Glancing around Danny spotted a small purple glow coming from inside a beauty shop. There a series of startled yelps before a small makeup set quickly soared out of the store and phased through the mall's roof.

"I see it!" Danny called before he turned off his earpiece and took off after the makeup set. The object was traveling fast, but Danny was able to keep up with it as he sailed out of the cities mall area, over downtown, and all the way to the city park which was luckily empty. Once he arrived, he finally caught sight of his target. "Paulina!"

"Danny!" the newly possessed teen girl said with a smile as she saw him as she caught the makeup set in her hand. Since Danny had seen her last, Paulina had managed to collect quite a few accessories including a scarf, some jewelry, and a new trending perfume. "You need anything from your favorite partner?"

"I've been trying to find you since you flew off without me," Danny told her with a small glare that Paulina didn't seem to notice as she just kept smiling. "But what's with all of that stuff you've got on you? You can't be using your ghost powers to steal!"

"But Danny," Paulina said as she tried to seem innocent and slightly hurt. "I wasn't…" Our half-ghost hero wasn't having any of it and crossed his arms as he continued stare at her accusingly. "Okay… I wish that these things I wanted would go back."

"Wait a minute, you-" Danny could finish his sentence before all of the accessories on Paulina glowed purple before flying off, presumably to return to the stores she'd bought them in. "H-how…?"

"It's a really cool ghost power that I got!" Paulina said gleefully. "I can wish for whatever I want and I'll get it within a few moments… Anything except for that ghost I wanted to find show up anyways."

"That's not a ghost power! That's-" Danny realized what his meant and quickly charged his _Exorcism_ ray, formed an image of Paulina in his mind, and fired the shot. He was too hasty and the attack went through Paulina without any resistance.

"Danny!? What are you trying to do? Are you attacking me?" Paulina asked as she felt betrayed, never expecting to be blasted by her idol.

"Desiree's using you! She's only using your wishes to get stronger!" Danny shouted before he tried another blast, which proved to have the same effect.

"She can't be using me! I'm just getting stronger!" Paulina said as she began to tear up. "I'm your partner remember! We're supposed to stick together! I can handle the ghosts I know I can!"

' _This isn't working!_ ' Danny thought as he fired again, guessing of a secret side of Paulina that was actually a deeply caring person, it didn't work. ' _Just what about Paulina am I missing!?_ ' He made another rapid interpretation of Paulina and raised his hands to fire, but Paulina raised her own hands and blasted Danny square in the chest with a _Ghost Ray._ The half ghost grunted at the force of his attack as he was blasted back.

"Oh you foolish little boy, did you really think it would be this easy?" While I was Paulina's mouth that had moved, the condescending voice that had spoken was clearly Desiree's. Paulina's tanned skin had become a ghostly green, her hair began flowing wildly, and now her eyes were completely red.

"Desiree!" Danny shouted before quickly tapping on his earpiece. "Guys it me! Desiree and Paulina are-!" He couldn't finish as another spectral blast was fired from the possessed Paulina, destroying his only means of contacting his friends. "Dang it! What are you trying to do!?"

"To get my power through granting this girl's truest desires," Desiree said with a wicked smile on her face. "This girl's first wish was perfect; she wanted to have ghost powers like her ever so perfect hero. If I can give one of my spirts your powers if your idiot friend cast the wish, couldn't I gain the same from this girl?"

"You're trying to use her for my powers?" Danny yelled as he tried to focus his ghost powers, but Desiree fired another ghost ray at him and he needed to dodge and drop the attack. "You know I'll stop you!"

"With a few more of her wishes it won't matter," Desiree told him cockily as the ground around the two began to shake with her power. "After that I'll be strong enough to where I won't need the girl! But for now I THINK I'LL RID MYSELF OF YOU!"

Desiree launched another blast at Danny, but the half ghost was ready to dodge this one. What he wasn't ready for was the shot ricocheting off a tree and striking him harshly in the back. He grunted as he was sent flying forward before Paulina delivered a well placed punch to his jaw and sent him flying skyward. Cackling evilly, she fired off an _Ice Ray_ at Danny which he only barely managed to avoid.

"That's your grand plan?! To copy me!?" Danny shouted as he fired another _Exorcist Ray_ , but this one Desiree easily avoided. "At least try to do something original!" Danny followed up with a quick _Ice Ray_ which struck Desiree's arms, but she quickly shattered to forming frost.

"Why bother when it's so easy with you smelly, idiotic, and greedy humans!?" Desiree shouted as she flew forward and delivered punch straight into Danny's jaw and sent him soaring to the ground. "Desire is never in short supply with your kind and I'm always there to collect!" She then fired a final Ice Ray, which caught Danny legs and froze them to the ground.

"I didn't want to have to do this, but you're not giving me a choice!" Danny shouted as he took his _Fenton Thermos_ out and pointed it at the Desiree/Paulina hybrid. "I'll take you both down if I need to!"

"Don't make me laugh! Go ahead then!" Desiree shouted. Danny wanted to push the button, he really did, but he couldn't bring himself to seal a human away for so long. "Stupid boy," Desiree mocked as both of her arms were completely encased in green. "You don't have the spine!"

The giant ghost ray hit Danny point blank and created a massive jade explosion. When the blast faded Danny was barely able to keep himself as transformed as he painfully tried to raise from ground and grab the Fenton thermos. Desiree landed a short distance away from him.

"Stay on the ground, it suits you so much better," she taunted as she walked towards him with _Ice Ray_ charged arms. "I think I'll incase you in a thick coat of Ice that'll take years to melt. You won't be in my way for a while."

' _I've only got one chance left_ ,' Danny thought as his mind rapidly raced. ' _If I go for my thermos she'll freeze me without a second thought, but I can't use my Exorcism ray on her and know that it's going to work.'_ She was almost on him. Danny tried to form an image, but with all of the damage the ghost in front of him had caused, he was too angry to think rationally. ' _Paulina is… Paulina is…_ _SHE'S AN OBSESSIVE FAN GIRL THAT TREATS EVERYONE AROUND HER LIKE DIRT AND HURTS SAM WHENEVER SHE GETS A CHANCE!_ '

The blast Danny fired wasn't fully charged, but as it hit an unprepared Paulina, Desiree was immediately blasted out of her back and screamed as she floated in the and gripped her head. Paulina slumped over and fell to the ground and let out a weak groan.

' _Th...that worked?'_ Danny asked himself as he painfully struggled to grab the Fenton Thermos and rose to his feet it was taking way too much effort to stay transformed, but right now he didn't have a choice. ' _Dang… Maybe Sam had a point all of those time she was trying to warn me…'_

"You dare- YOU DARE TO STRIKE ME!?" Desire beserkley shouted as she tried to unleash a destructive _Ghostly Wail_. All that she managed to do was give a shrill scream which only hurt Danny's ears. "No! My powers!"

"They're my powers Desiree…" Danny groaned angrily as he continued to breath heavily as he finally fully stood. "And it's going to stay that way…"

"Just a few more wishes, I just needed her to make a few more and it'd be complete!" the genie ghost cried out distraught that she couldn't keep the powers she'd become so powerful with. "I JUST NEEDED TO GRANT A FEW MORE WISHES!"

"...You want to grant a wish?" Danny asked darkly as the thermos let out a high pitched charging sound. "I WISH YOU'D STAY IN THE GHOST ZONE!" He fired the ghost container, catching Desiree in its ray just as Paulina managed to open her eyes. She watched as Desiree screamed as she was sucked into the ghost containing device. "Let's see how long that keeps you…"

"The ghost was possessing me all along!?" Paulina asked before she saw the state her hero was in. "Danny! Are you okay!?"

"Not really…" he groaned. "I told you it was too dangerous."

"Yeah, I guess you did," Paulina said as she began to feel to guilty. "I can't hunt ghosts like you can, but is there anything I can do to help you? I'll do anything Danny Phantom, anything!"

Unnerved by her now cheery smile, Danny was about to wave her offer away before thinking back on some of Paulina's earlier actions. "Okay then... you can start by being nicer to Sam Manson."

"G-gloomy girl? What are you talking about?" Paulina asked in surprise.

"You've said some pretty nasty thing to her haven't you?" Danny accused as his eyes became narrowed in a glare. "In fact I think you can start being a lot nicer to people in general with the way you act."

"You're joking aren't you?" Paulina said, she tried to defend herself by smiling sweetly and charming her hero, but then a fear filled thought entered her. "D… Do you LIKE Gloomy Girl?"

"I-I like everyone the same!" Danny shouted as a quick defense trying to keep his blush down and failing. "But this isn't about me, it's about-"

Paulina didn't even stay to listen, she just growled angrily and stormed away as she was seething with rage. Danny was about to follow, but the injuries he'd gotten from the fight finally caught up with him and he winced in pain and was unable to follow. When he sure no one was looking, he let his ghost form dissolve and headed for a park bench a short distance.

' _I think I just made things worse,'_ Danny thought to himself bitterly as he caught his breath and looked at his thermos. "You were a real pain this time, you know that?"

"Danny!" Jazz called as she, Tucker, and Sam ran towards him. "We followed your trail as soon as your earpiece cut out, what happened?"

"Good news is I've got Desiree," he told them as he held up his _Fenton Thermos_. "She was hiding inside Paulina all this time, trying to get my ghost powers or something. She's not going to be causing trouble for a while."

"And the bad news?" Sam asked as she sat on the bench next to Danny with great concern for her best friend.

Seeing the two together, Jazz's sisterly instincts then kicked in as she took the _Fenton Thermos_ from her brother's hand. "Catch you breath and relax for a minute; Tucker and I can send Desiree back through the portal."

"You go on ahead, I'll stay behind and make sure Danny's doing okay," Tucker told her, only to be grabbed by the back of his shirt as Jazz began dragging him away. "Jazz? Hey! Let me go!"

"Come on, I need someone to ride with me if we're going to carpool," Jazz said as she continued to drag Tucker away while Sam and Danny watched on in concern. "We can stop at Nasty Burger on the way if you want?"

"Okay! Okay! I can walk on my own!" Tucker groaned as he and Jazz headed to where she'd parked the Fenton RV.

"What's with them?" Sam asked aloud and Danny only shook his head. "So what really happened with Paulina?"

"Well… I kind of tried to put in a good word for you as Danny Phantom, just something so that Paulina would stop being such a jerk to you," he finally admitted.

' _So he's finally picked up on it, took him long enough,_ ' Sam thought with a hand on her hip before realizing she was being kind of harsh with him. "You didn't need to do that Danny."

"I'm beginning to wish I hadn't," he said sadly. "She was pretty upset when she stormed away. I think I might've made things a lot worse for you…"

"Worse than things already were? I doubt it," Sam told him as she took her right hand and gently placed it over Danny's in reassurance. "But thanks for trying… It really means a lot."

"...Any time Sam," Danny said as a small smile slowly returned. "Any time."

 _Casper High Hallways_

 _3:15 PM Thursday, October 11th, 2018_

"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" Danny asked as he walked with Sam to the newsletter club room the next day. He was carrying his Saxophone case because it was getting close to the time he needed to be in band club with Ghozart, but he wanted to make a point to walk Sam to her club.

"Trust me, I'll be fine. There's nothing Paulina can say or do to me that she hasn't done several times before," Sam tried to tell him. "And who knows, maybe she'll just ignore me and that'll be the end of it?"

"Maybe, but-"

"Mister Fenton, Miss Manson," the two heard Lancer say from behind them as he walked up to the two with a folder in his hands. "Sorry to interrupt your heartfelt talk…" Danny and Sam were about deny it before their teacher continued. "but I'm afraid I need a word with Miss Manson." Noticing the two looking at each other in concern, Lancer decided he'd end the suspense there. "Samantha, I'd like to personally request that you become the new head of the Newsletter Team."

"You want me lead the Newsletter club?" Sam asked in surprise and Danny looked pretty shocked himself. "But what about Paulina?"

"She came to me earlier today about stepping down, in fact it looks like she's going to be leaving the club altogether and try to use two years of cheerleading credit to complete the graduation requirement," Lancer explained. "As of right now you're the only one who's managed to put out an article all year and you've done it alone, so we need someone with your skill to lead the club, think you can manage that?"

"I'll do whatever I can," Sam told him confidently. "I've already got a couple of stories in mind."

"Good to hear," Lancer said as he wrote something down in his folder before turning to glare at Danny. "Mr. Fenton, I want that book report on Beowulf the moment you walking into class tomorrow and I don't want to see a single grammar error in it. Am I understood?"

"Yes sir," Danny told him, but he smiling as he said it. Something that didn't completely register with Lancer.

"I'll leave you two to your clubs then," Lancer told the two as he headed off. "I'm expecting great things from the both of you, don't prove me wrong."

After the Vice Principal had left, Danny gave a snarky smirk to Sam. "So I guess we'll be seeing a lot more of Danny Phantom on the cover?"

"Probably, but I want to try to cover some _other_ trending news," Sam said with a returned smirk. "Maybe cover a bit more of the band events?"

"Hey, I'm all for it," Danny agreed with a laugh.

Neither of them noticed Paulina as she harshly glared at the two from around the corner. Gripping her fist in rage, she headed off to get ready for cheer leading practice. ' _Be nice? To them? This isn't over Gloomy girl, this isn't CLOSE to being over._ ' As she stormed away, she didn't notice her eyes and the harsh red glow they were emitting…

 _ **Author's Note: Well that took a while… Same message as before, I don't own anything here.**_

 _ **Trivia Question: In an interview, voice actor David Kaufman revealed that his daughter called him by a certain nickname due to his role on the show. What was that nickname?**_

 _ **Last Chapter's Trivia Answer: Skulker (Matthew Patrick and Kevin Richardson) and Valerie Gray (Grey Griffin and Cree Summer).**_

 _ **Sorry this chapter took a while to get out, I liked the idea of this Arc, but executing a villain who can grant wishes was… tricky. Nonetheless I had fun writing it and I actually have a much better plan for my next chapter. Here's some review feedback for you.**_

 _Hellbreaker: Thanks, I think I might've gotten less of Paulina's character in this chapter, but she's not that easy to work with since we're not actually given much to go off of beside a few character points._

 _Paladin9800: Not bad, you got it._

 _The Samurai Prince: Eh, here was the ending; new technique, life goes on… for the most part._

 _Masterart: Kept you waiting huh?_

 _ **Until Next Time! Ciao!**_


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